Top 5 Eerie Picture Books

The Rainbow Goblins

A fable about why you will never find the end of a rainbow. Sounds innocent enough, except that it features seven goblins (i.e., the seven horsemen of the apocalypse) who consume color. It stands at the top of my list because of its epic illustrations that span vast and beautiful environments. Nevertheless, small children may not like the frightening faces of goblins. It is also the only picture book on this list that depicts death; The goblins drown in a sea of color.

​By Ul De Rico

What There Is Before There Is Anything There (A Scary Story)

The concept of this picture book alone is strange, existential, and frightening. The personification of darkness is a villain between the worlds of "there" and "not there." Some of the strategies that the author uses to illustrate the story are also frightening. The art is muted, which gives the story a vintage feel. Darkness is scratchy. Adult figures lose their heads off-page, which provides them with a disembodied, disinterested appearance that emphasizes the loneliness of the night.

By Liniers

The Dark

Jon Klassen was an excellent option for this story. The art is intentionally muted and simple. This way, there is a heavy emphasis on light, shadow, and darkness. Lemony Snicket takes advantage of elements that typically scare children, such as the dark and the basement. Darkness is a monster without a face, which some may argue, is much scarier than a monster with a face. There is a notable absence of adults. Even though the story ends positively, it still leaves an eerie feeling as if it did not completely resolve the problem.

By Lemony Snicket
Illustrated By Jon Klassen

Wolves in the Walls

Wolves in the Walls is frightening primarily due to the illustrations by Dave McKean. The images are warped and illusionary. Eyes are deep dark holes. The text style accompanies the pictures, strewn about the pages, inconsistent, and bold. Niel Gaiman plays on a typical childhood fear: the sounds of the house at night. Parents and siblings are not very useful to the child in the story. For example, they give vague answers to questions and seem overly preoccupied. Niel Gaiman uses preoccupied parents to create an atmosphere of loneliness, strengthening the misunderstood child trope. He uses it in Coraline as well.

By Neil Gaiman
Illustrated by Dave McKean

Bony-Legs

Bony-Legs is a fairytale re-telling in the tradition of Baba-Yaga, where children thwart the witch before she can eat them. This one is no different except that it is child-friendly compared to the source material. Nevertheless, the illustrations are sufficiently frightening, dark, with an eerie vintage feel.

By Joanna Cole
​Illustrated By Dirk Zimmer

xx

​Cory

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