When I was a kid I had no idea what a ‘Monster Kid’ was. I just knew that I liked scary stuff, and monsters, and Halloween. I knew that I loved to tell stories and pretend my play time was part of a movie. I was a monster kid without knowing it. Heck, one of the most formative books I had as a kid was about Lamont, the Lonely Monster and I adored the haunted house pop up book that my neighbors had. It was my mom that fostered that love of horror and rented scary movies for me before I was old enough to rent for myself. I remember the first movie I rented when we got a VCR in the mid-1980’s. It was my free birthday movie at the video store and was SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES and I watched it twice before we had to take it back because I loved it so much and loved how creepy it was.
I guess I was spooky before I even knew it.
When I started writing I was focused on telling horror stories for adults. I wanted to tap into the horror I was reading and absorbing and wanted to put my spin on things. It wasn’t until I was much more established as a writer and older that I embraced my inner child again and wanted to tell stories for kids like I had been, for monster kids. Stories about outsiders, or kids going through hard times and who took comfort in monsters, or in dancing to their own music. Kids that just needed to realize how strong and brave they were.
I have written a handful of kid’s books and I can’t tell you what age they are for because kids read things that are sometimes too old for them and sometimes too young for them. It’s hard to know what a kid is ready for when they are reading. I know that these are books for monster kids though. Books about being outsiders and going through hard times but where they all find their voice, their strength, and their bravery and they conquer the obstacle before them.
These are books that show that monster kids are just like all the other kids, just more interesting.
All are available via Amazon. Click each image to order that book.
The Spooky World of Chris Ringler 