Contributions by Rebecca A. Brown, Justine Gieni, Holly Harper, Emily L.
Hiltz, A. Robin Hoffman, Kirsten Kowalewski, Peter C. Kunze, Jorie
Lagerwey, Nick Levey, Jessica R. McCort, and Janani Subramanian
Dark novels, shows, and films targeted toward children and young adults
are proliferating wildly. It is even more crucial now to understand the
methods by which such texts have traditionally operated and how those
methods have been challenged, abandoned, and appropriated. Reading in
the Dark fills a gap in criticism devoted to children's popular culture
by concentrating on horror, an often-neglected genre. These scholars
explore the intersection between horror, popular culture, and children's
cultural productions, including picture books, fairy tales, young adult
literature, television, and monster movies.
Reading in the Dark looks at horror texts for children with deserved
respect, weighing the multitude of benefits they can provide for young
readers and viewers. Refusing to write off the horror genre as campy,
trite, or deforming, these essays instead recognize many of the texts
and films categorized as "scary" as among those most widely consumed by
children and young adults. In addition, scholars consider how adult
horror has been domesticated by children's literature and culture, with
authors and screenwriters turning that which was once horrifying into
safe, funny, and delightful books and films. Scholars likewise examine
the impetus behind such re-envisioning of the adult horror novel or film
as something appropriate for the young. The collection investigates both
the constructive and the troublesome aspects of scary books, movies, and
television shows targeted toward children and young adults. It considers
the complex mechanisms by which these texts communicate overt messages
and hidden agendas, and it treats as well the readers' experiences of
such mechanisms.
