The Scary Video (Thinkers)

The Scary Video Electronic book published by ipicturebooks.com 24 W. 25th St. New York, NY 10010 For more ebooks, visit us at: http://www.ipicturebooks.com All rights reserved Text copyright © Citizenship Foundation 2001 Illustrations copyright © Tim Archbold 2001 No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. e-ISBN 1-59019-774-7 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

by Gill Rose Illustrated by Tim Archbold

The night Claire’s uncle came to stay, the grown-ups rented a video to watch together.

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Claire hoped that if she sat still and kept quiet as a mouse, her mum and dad might let her stay up and watch the video with them.

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It seemed to work. No one noticed Claire sitting quietly in the corner. She was very pleased with herself...

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...until she saw something NASTY on the video that made her feel really frightened. Claire shut her eyes tight.

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Whenever she opened her eyes to peep, Claire saw horrible things happening on the screen.

But even if she shut them again, she could still hear the noises and the scary music. 8

Claire didn’t know what to do. She could go to bed, but now she felt too scared to be upstairs by herself. She could tell her mum and dad that she was scared, but they would probably tell her off and send her to bed anyway. What could she do?

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Claire stayed where she was. For a little while the video was just like a normal TV programme. Claire decided that she could handle this. She felt quite cool.

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AAGH! Just then, even the grown-ups screamed. Claire buried her face in a cushion, her heart thumping. But that didn’t really help because she could imagine what was happening, and that was scary too.

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At last, she could stand it no longer. Trying not to make a sound, Claire crept out of the room on her knees...

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...and tiptoed up the stairs.

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It was dark on the landing. Claire turned the light on and felt a little braver.

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She remembered to brush her teeth, but she was too scared to look in the mirror, in case she saw something coming up behind her.

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Claire jumped quickly into bed, before anything nasty could grab hold of her ankles. She had never felt so scared in her life.

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When Mum and Dad looked in on their way to bed, Claire was still sitting up, wide awake.

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She asked them to leave the light on. Mum and Dad couldn’t understand why.

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Claire lay there for ages thinking of all sorts of scary things.

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That night Claire had real nightmares. She woke up shouting for her mum and dad.

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Mum and Dad came running into Claire’s room. Mum gave her a cuddle. Dad said, “It’s all right. It’s only a dream.” But Claire wished she had not watched that video!

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Something to think about... Parents or teachers can use these questions as starting points for talking to children about the issues raised in the story.

* The video the family were watching was scary. What do you think Claire might have seen? * What kind of things frighten you when you see them on TV? * What else do you find frightening? Why is that? * Was it all right for Claire to be watching the video? * Why do you think she wasn’t in bed? * Do you think Mum and Dad should have chosen a video Claire could watch with them? * Is it a good idea to have a bedtime that you stick to? * Do you think children should be allowed to stay up at night for as long as they like? * What do you think her mum and dad will do if they find Claire hiding downstairs? * What would you do if you were Claire’s mum or dad? * Why didn’t Claire tell her mum and dad that she was frightened? * Would it have been a good idea to have done that? * If you were Claire’s mum or dad, what would you have said to her to try to stop her 22

doing that again?

* Talk about when it is fun to be a bit frightened and when being frightened is horrible. * Do you think everyone is frightened by the same things? * Why do you think there are some videos and TV programmes that children are not allowed to watch?

* What signs on a video show you what is all right to watch? * Who do you think puts those signs there? * What do you think Claire felt like when she was climbing the stairs in the dark? * Why do you think Claire didn’t want the light off ? Do you ever feel like that? * Why do you think Mum and Dad didn’t let Claire have the light on? Were they being unkind?

* What is a nightmare? Do you think everyone has nightmares? Why are they so frightening?

* Would it be a good idea for Claire to tell Mum and Dad all about why she was feeling scared that night or should she never talk about it?

* When do you think it is a good idea to talk to other people about your feelings? * Who can you go to for help if you are feeling scared or lonely? Think of as many people as you can.

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