The Fun Book of Scary Stuff

Reach for this book when your child starts seeing shadows in the corner of the room or becomes fixated on the monsters under the bed. It is a perfect tool for de-escalating nighttime anxiety by inviting children to look their fears in the eye and find something ridiculous about them. The story features a young boy and his skeptical dog discussing a laundry list of 'scary' things, from ghosts and sharks to the dark itself. Emily Jenkins uses humor as a shield, helping children realize that their imagination, which can create scary thoughts, can also be used to make those same thoughts funny. By anthropomorphizing fears and giving them silly traits, the book validates a child's anxiety while simultaneously providing a strategy to overcome it. It is ideal for preschoolers and early elementary students who are moving into the developmental stage of more complex, abstract fears.