"My job: to terrify kids." ~R.L. Stine

According to R.L. Stine's via Twitter, it is National Scare A Kid Month.

I've always like to be scared as a kid. When I was younger, I would go to my cousins' house in Jersey and we would rent scary movies, write scripts for potential movies that were never made and I would write scary stories (which were usually based on our scripts that we based on urban legends). My favorite was "The Hook." Here is one of the many versions of the story taken from About.com:

"A teenage boy drove his date to a dark and deserted Lovers' Lane for a make-out session. After turning on the radio for mood music, he leaned over and began kissing the girl. 

A short while later, the music suddenly stopped and an announcer's voice came on, warning in an urgent tone that a convicted murderer had just escaped from the state insane asylum — which happened to be located not far from Lovers' Lane — and that anyone who noticed a strange man lurking about with a hook in place of his right hand should immediately report his whereabouts to the police. 

The girl became frightened and asked to be taken home. The boy, feeling bold, locked all the doors instead and, assuring his date they would be safe, attempted to kiss her again. She became frantic and pushed him away, insisting that they leave. Relenting, the boy peevishly jerked the car into gear and spun its wheels as he pulled out of the parking space. 

When they arrived at the girl's house she got out of the car, and, reaching to close the door, began to scream uncontrollably. The boy ran to her side to see what was wrong and there, dangling from the door handle, was a bloody hook."

For more great horror stories that are probably aimed for younger kids (but I own and read repeatedly), check out:

• Beware! Ed. R.L. Stine (with a few stories by the legend who brought us Goosebumps)
• Nightmare Hour by R.L. Stine
• Scary Stories Retold by Alvin Schwartz
• Coraline by Neil Gaiman
• The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka
• Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
• The Grimms Fairy Tales
• The Witches by Roald Dahl
• The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
• The Gashlycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey

Now, even though March is National A Scare Kid Month doesn't mean that you can't always incorporate terror in to kids' hearts all year round. After all, they're little terrors themselves.

Buy R.L. Stines Little Shop of Hamsters.