It’s no secret that some of the best-loved fairy tales come from a rather horrifying collection of folktales by the Brothers Grimm. While many classics like Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella were eventually toned down to be child-friendly, some authors have refused to give up their edge. Here are five children’s books with truly scary stories for kids still around today…
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
An 1845 German collection of “cautionary tales” has gone down in history as one of the most terrifying children’s books to exist, mostly because of its illustrations — which depict violent acts like a person getting their fingers lobbed off (blood spray included) to a young girl who literally cries her eyes out.
The book outlines all nature of adverse fates that could befall a child who had behaved naughtily — and those consequences run the gamut from being unpopular to having your thumbs cut off by a roving tailor. One little girl plays with fire and gets more than burned:
So she was burnt, with all her clothes,
and arms, and hands, and eyes, and nose
Till she had nothing more to lose
Except her little scarlet shoes;
And nothing else but these were found
Among her ashes on the ground.
The collection of stories has been referenced in many other pieces of literature and even got a shout out on The Office.
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