"Nighty-Nightmare": A scary book illustrated by Leslie H. Morrill

By searching for other scary picture books for children in the Milner Library's Special Collections, I found something completely different to the scary books we have discussed before on this blog. I discovered the Nighty-Nightmare, written by James Howe and illustrated by Leslie H. Morrill, from 1987.

The impact of scary illustrations in children books

It's exciting to see how frightening some illustrations in children books can be. Normally, parents read picture books to their children before they go to bed. So, that they become calm and tired. But what happens to them if parents read them scary children books?

Turning over to scary: Struwwelpeter

If you have read our last post about Lois Lenski, you hopefully enjoyed the introduction of her Houseboat Girl and her Strawberry Girl. Wonderful literature like this is one part of our blog. The other part is also wonderful, but to a greater extent the stories and illustrations are very scary. Both the wonderful and the scary children books can be found in the Special Collections of the Milner Library (Illinois State University, Normal, IL). This post will show you the beauty of the original edition of Heinrich Hoffmann's Struwwelpeter (The Slovenly Peter) and its cruelness. Be aware, some of the illustrations will be terrifying, at least if you are part of Hoffmann's target audience "children aged 3 to 6".