Occultic Children’s Books
by Debra Conley
It is impossible not to notice store bookshelves glutted with intermediate level books which dwell on the occult, psychic phenomena, aliens, witchcraft, and vampires. The 4-8 grade level is a highly impressionable, even fragile age of limited but growing discernment. Curiosity and imagination abound. One education strength sadly lacking in today’s youth is useful, even humorous, creativity. Unfortunately, the most popular books in stores today take the reader’s imagination to the dark side.
By far the most popular are the R.L. Stine Goosebumps books. These are year round themes of Halloween type horrors. Many deal with spooky mishaps involving weird images, and most all have death and blood somewhere. One book I scanned dealt with a werecat (the animal had the powers of a werewolf) which tried to control the main character. There are two sequel series by Stine called Fear Street and Ghosts of Fear which get into more vampire, occult, and psychic phenomena. I found no mention in the books that these ideas might not be normal occurrences. Some of the stories will become a new Fox For Kids series this fall.
Other books of this same nature include the Christopher Pike series which introduces young readers to control by vampires, crystals, and mystic ceremonies. Likewise, author L.J. Smith’s Night World “elevates” readers to levels of psychic possession. Author Bruce Coville claims his real life job as a grave digger gave him many ideas for his spooky stories. Caveat Lector!
