Read "Dagon" to the kids.

I read Dagon to my kids last night. I know they like horror stories, so I thought it would be a good idea to test with one of H.P. Lovecraft's stories. Kids are used (or we have the prejudice that they are used) to a different type of horror stories, the ones based on witches and ghosts. Exposing them to something completely different was sort of interesting. For starters, they found some of the language quite difficult to grasp but everything was more understandable than I thought. They asked me to clarify a few points here and there, but overall they seemed to follow the story no problem. At certain moments, they kept their eyes wide open. I wouldn't say they reflected terror but, at the very least, they were intrigued and worried about the character's fate. So, all in all, it went much better than I had anticipated. As a matter of fact, at the very end my oldest son (he's 12) commented that he had especially liked the fact that it wasn't your typical horror story, based on witches and ghosts, but rather different and original. Perhaps they are adquiring a literary taste after all!