Storytelling with voice and excitement is always going to grab a child, Story tellers know this, that is why there are childrens tv shows with characters who jump around reciting silly prose. Until a child is old enough for self inflicted peer pressure he is enchanted.
Children's literature as a genre came about partially as a response to the surge of cultural interest in the gothic, which children were probably so interested in due to the bleakness of their own surroundings. I believe its the gothic settings that always excites and draws the attention of a child.
- terrifying events
- the fear of the unknown
- haunted houses
- castles, mansions
- cabins in the woods
- ruined or sinister buildings
- dungeons,crypts, catacombs, secret passages
- southern plantations
- basements or attics
- dark corridors, and winding stairs
- shadows
- moonlight
- flickering candles or a candle blown out
- dark forests, twisted trees
- thunderstorms, lightning
- storms at sea, rocky coastlines
- ancestral curses
- magic
- graveyards
- creepy sounds, chains rattling, moaning, groans
- the idea of the supernatural