Boo!: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Fear (but Were Afraid to Ask) is a captivating middle-grade treasury of everything scary, written by Clive Gifford (How Airports Work) and illustrated by Rohan Eason (Wildwitch series illustrator).
Gifford delves into the realm of fear, discussing how and why the body reacts to terror; the history of spooky festivals, superstitions, and "scaretainment"; and even how to write scary stories. He uses direct, clear language to show the inner workings of the brain as it processes threats and how the body responds to the brain's signals. Once readers are educated in the science of fear, Gifford takes them through an unsettling maze of spellbinding history and exciting facts. Gifford requires no tricks, but he does treat readers to the history of scary stories and, in a section titled "Terror Teaches," explains the roles those stories have in "encouraging people to act in what their group or society thought was the right way." The final chapter offers writing advice, including story starters, grippers, "deadly descriptions," and twists.
Eason contributes to the text's disquieting tone with his black, white, and red mixed-media art. Blood drips from the tops of pages, a skeleton hand proffers a meaty red brain for viewing, and full- and double-page illustrations feature frightening images. Eason's art, which depicts the straightforward as well as the scary, is realistic, with heavy cross-hatching, fittingly reminiscent of the work of Edward Gorey. Readers should be intrigued by Gifford's extensive examination of this hair-raising subject and, armed with all this knowledge about fear, they may go forth and confidently face all that goes bump in the night. --Jen Forbus, freelancer