10 Children's Horror Books That Gave 90s Kids Nightmares

Without a doubt, the '90s were the heyday of YA horror books, with scary kids' lit for kids and teens flooding the market and terrifying '90s kids forever. Many of the most beloved classic children's books of the '90s were coming-of-age tales, but many others were pulpy thrillers and horror stories that delved into the dark side of human nature and the supernatural. The 1980s to 1990s saw an abundance of horror books aimed at teenage readersBut the popularity of scary books for children has also exploded, sparking a horror boom in books that were once reserved for adults.

Unlike today, most material aimed at children pulled no punches for fear of traumatizing children, and this included books. There was a lot of talk about children's films from the 80s being incredibly dark, but although the new PG-13 rating put an end to that in the same decade, the books continued to deliver horror, blood, and existential nightmares to a younger audience for a long time. Not all of the era's most memorable children's horror books are literary masterpieces, but the best ones shaped the nightmares of a generation of '90s kids.

10

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (1981)

Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell

Of all the books on this list, Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark The series is arguably the most iconic vehicle of childhood trauma for children of a certain generation. It is also the most memorable, as it is the most read, having sold millions of copies after the first book was so successful that it spawned two sequels: More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (1984) and Scary Stories 3: More Stories to Relax (1991). It is not a novel, but a collection of short stories taken from folklore and urban legends, reading Scary Stories This is the closest a '90s kid has come to sitting around a campfire or in a dark room during a sleepover and terrifying each other with ghost stories.

The stories themselves are truly scary, although some are more funny than scary. But what really drove the horror home were Stephen Gammell's iconic original illustrations.which were pure, delicious nightmare fuel. Gammell's bloody, stunning charcoal and ink drawings haunted a generation, with the 2019 film adaptation wisely ripping his creature designs straight from the page. Over the years, several conservative parent groups have attempted to ban the books, with varying degrees of success. They never understood what Schwartz and Gammell did: children are resilient, and scary childhood stories form core memories that become great nostalgia in adulthood.

9

Thirteen: 13 horror tales by 13 horror masters

Tonya Pines (editor) and various authors

Another memorable collection less aimed at children like Scary Storiesand more for teens and YA readers was the anthology Thirteen: 13 horror tales by 13 horror masters. The anthology featured some of the Point Horror imprint's most notable horror and thriller writers at the time, including Christopher Pike, R.L. Stine, Caroline B. Cooney and others. They didn't disappoint, bringing some of their best and scariest unique stories to the anthology.

Unlike children's horror, which was mainly about monsters, ghouls and simple ghosts, Thirteen introduced an element of existential horror into many of its tales, adding a gruesome new wrinkle for tween and teen minds to engage with. Special nightmare fuel was “Where the Deer Are” by Caroline B. Cooney. a story that made an entire generation of children think twice about walking forest roads and watching every deer they saw. Falling forever into a dimension between worlds? No thanks.

8

The New Girl (Fear Street #1) (1989)

R.L. Stine

In the 1990s, There was undoubtedly no bigger name in children's and young adult horror than RL Stine. In fact, he was so great that he made this list twice, as the next entry shows. Stine started out as a children's story writer and producer of children's TV shows, but he really hit his stride in 1989 when he released his first book in the formative young adult horror and thriller series, Street of Fear. The new girl was the #1 book in Street of Fear series and hit a generation of teenagers like a tidal wave, ushering in a whole new world of thrills and chills.

R.L. Stine's Street of Fear the books were all set in the fictional town of Shadyside, specifically Fear Street, an element that influenced later offerings in the YA genre such as Buffy the Vampire SlayerSunnyvale and other fictional cities full of supernatural events. Stine combined over-the-top thriller narratives, serial killers, paranormal happenings, ghosts, murder, curses, witchcraft, twisted love stories, and more. The new girl presented readers with a pulpy story of obsessive love and stolen identity at the hands of a teenage killer. Immediately, he let readers know that in Street of Fear books, dark subject prohibited in scary children's books it was no longer off limits.

7

Welcome to the Dead House (Goosebumps #1) (1991)

R.L. Stine

RL Stine was a powerhouse, writing not one but two iconic book series. Street of Fear was their YA horror series aimed at teen writers, but a few years later, he released his Goosebumps series aimed at children and pre-teens. Surprisingly, it was even more successful than the already huge success Street of Fearselling over 400 million copies and becoming a bona fide franchise, spawning comic books, video games, TV adaptations, films, and merchandise alongside the books themselves.

Like this Street of Fear pulled no punches when it came to telling genuinely scary stories for teenagers, the Goosebumps the series did not please or spoke badly of younger children. Right at the gate, Welcome to Casa Morta introduced the undead and dead zombie children who need to consume the blood of a newly dead person to survive. While future Goosebumps books dabbled in more comedy and tongue-in-cheek scares, Dead House it was pure horror: dead people, dead children, dead pets and lots of blood. This set the tone that anything was possible in books, even if they were for children.

6

The Midnight Club (1994)

Christopher Pike

If RL Stine was the #1 name in horror for young adults and kids in the 90s, so Christopher Pike would be considered 1A. Unlike Stine's long-running series, Pike had several shorter series, including Cheerleaders, Current letter, Last friends, Remember meand The Last Vampire. However, it was Pike's standalone novels that brought him the greatest acclaim, and rightly so, as they allowed him to explore different ideas and settings without being tied to a specific place or narrative structure.

Of these independent books, The Midnight Club It was the greatest existential and mind-blowing trip. The subject matter itself was heavy, revolving around a group of teenagers at a hospice with terminal illnesses, from cancer to AIDS, who face mortality head on, telling each other stories to cope. But it's a twist when they make a pact to contact others from beyond the grave. which introduces deep and frightening questions about what happens when we die, how to face death with grace and whether life means anything if it's so short. There are supernatural elements, sure, but it's the horror of the great unknown and unanswered questions that make The Midnight Club so impactful.

5

Wait Until Helen Arrives (1986)

Mary Downing Hahn

Not all terrifying children's and children's books were about psychotic serial killers or macabre monsters. Some of the scariest books were about just that: hauntings. In the 80s and 90s, many ghost stories for children and teenagers hit the shelves, but Few authors have conquered this market like Mary Downing Hahnspecializing in tales involving ghosts. Of his books, the best known and most influential is the tragic Gothic Ghost Tale. Wait until Helen arrives. Although it was published in 1986, it continued to sell copies until the 1990s, a regular presence in school libraries.

Wait until Helen arrives It has its scary moments, but the real horror comes from the tragedy of the backstory and the gothic elements that saturate the story, including the old cemetery, a small isolated rural town with secrets, and the ghost herself, Helen. The pain and guilt that Helen carried with her into the afterlife made her vengeful and desperate for companionship. leading to Wait until Helen arrives'chilling climax and terribly sad revelation. Many children gave the lakes a wide berth, their imaginations convinced they saw the ghostly figure of a girl lurking at the edge and waiting to pull them in. It's literally and figuratively scary, staying with an entire generation of children.

4

The face on the milk carton (1990)

Caroline B. Cooney

While it never reached the atmospheric heights of Christopher Pike and R.L. Stine, as one of the lesser satellites of '90s YA horror thrillers, Caroline B. Cooney was in regular rotation for many teenage readers, especially girls. Her books span multiple genres, including romance, horror, suspense, and mystery, winning numerous awards and nominations. Similar to Pike, she had a few shorter series, including The Vampire's Promise trilogy, the time travelers quartet, the Losing Christine trilogy and the Jane Johnson series.

The first book in this last series is The face on the milk cartonwhich introduced an existentially horrible concept: What if your parents weren't really your parents and you weren't who you thought you were? This is the nightmare that 15-year-old Janie faces when she sees a photo of her younger self on a milk carton, labeled as a missing child. The practice of milk cartons was common in the 1980s and 1990s, when the “stranger danger” panic was a legitimate cultural phenomenon, and many children began paying more attention to photos of missing children on the back of milk cartons after reading The face on the milk cartonwondering if they would see someone they knew and hoping it wasn't them.

3

The Curse of the Blue Figurine (Johnny Dixon #1) (1983)

John Bellairs

John Bellairs was an unsung hero of children's horror, telling Gothic mysteries to children and tweens in the 1980s and 1990s. Although all of his book series involved that Gothic mystery element, his Lewis Barnavelt series is largely a series junior mystery, with some supernatural and dark fantasy elements. His Johnny Dixon and Anthony Monday series, however, they were pure gothic horror for children. With Anthony Monday only appearing in four books and Johnny Dixon in three more times, it was the latter series that left its mark. It doesn't hurt that the series' illustrator is none other than Edward Gorey.

The Johnny Dixon series began in 1983 The Curse of the Blue Figurineintroducing kids to series protagonist Johnny Dixon and his only friends, history teacher Roderick Childermass and neighbor Fergie. The book was for children, but it didn't dumb things down. Bellairs turned the story into a frightening and oppressive story, the atmosphere becoming more cloying and dark to reflect Johnny's deteriorating mental state as a dark specter gains a foothold in your mind. History taught children a harsh lesson: don't steal, especially ancient artifacts – you never know what might be attached.

2

Strange About My Face (1981)

Lois Duncan

Lois Duncan was similar to Caroline B. Cooney in the 80s and 90s in that her name may not have been the biggest name in horror, but young readers who were steeped in the world of YA thrillers and horror novels knew her well. Duncan was a prolific writer, writing dozens of novels, more than a dozen illustrated and chapter books for children, a few books of poetry, several audiobooks, and editing a few anthologies. Although his best-known work is I know what you did last summer, Thanks to the latest film adaptations and TV series, Strange with my face remains a favorite of many readers.

Strange with my face introduced an entire generation to the concept of astral projection when the protagonist Laurie discovers that she has a twin sister, Lia, who uses astral projection to send her soul out of her body. It was a fascinating thing to contemplate until the story also stretched the concept to a dark outcome, when Lia possessed Laurie's body, expelling her soul. With this twist, Strange with my face incorporated the concept of the malevolent doppelgänger. The idea of ​​watching someone else steal your face to live their life was a nightmare scenario that stuck with many readers.

1

Flowers in the Attic (1979)

VC Andrés

A book so famous (or infamous, depending on how you look at it) that it has been caricatured, satirized, and referenced in countless other pieces of pop culture, VC Andrews' Flowers in the attic is the best and worst of excessive Southern Gothic. VC Andrews published less than a dozen novels credited to his name during his lifetime (and two posthumously), but although all were fairly well received, none had the impact of Flowers in the attic — so much so that it continued to be read by teenagers into the '90s and resonated with them as it did with kids in the late '70s, thanks to its titillating plot of sibling incest and over-the-top family drama.

The incest between the two brothers locked in the attic is, of course, the main thing people remember from the novel, but there was so much more going on Flowers in the attic scandalize a young reader. It is, in short, a very: child abuse and starvation, psychopathic religious fanaticism, sibling incest, rape, slow poisoning, abusive guardians, lies, the death of a child, and much more. It's not a particularly well-written book, but it's certainly a memorable one, with every terribly problematic moment burned into the brains of an entire generation who were baptized by fire by reading this book and came out the other side traumatized.