Kids In Children’s Books That Give Us The Creeps

Nothing adds a soul-chilling note of fear to a story like the presence of a creepy child. Small, quiet, and stealthy, scary children exist in all genres, not just horror. In fact, some of the most disturbing little characters are lurking on your own children’s shelves. Forget Damien in The Omen—the Antichrist has nothing on these kids:
Madeline in Madeline, by Ludwig Bemelmans
This kid has wicked street smarts, likely from a childhood spent roaming Paris at all hours. Think about it: the child-to-nun ratio in the old house covered in vines is 12:1—there’s no way those kids are adequately supervised. I bet Madeline knows how to pickpocket a deputy, carjack a Peugeot, and steal your identity without notice. Never turn your back on this one.
Paddington in Paddington, by Michael Bond
It’s like those movies where the doorbell rings and everyone in the audience knows who it is, but all the characters in the house are oblivious, and you’re screaming at the screen, “Don’t open it! It’s THE KILLER!” When the Brown family takes Paddington in and adopts him like a third child, I want to scream, “You guys! You just left your human kids unattended WITH A BEAR.”
The siblings in The Cat In The Hat, by Dr. Seuss
After answering the door one day while home alone, these kids fall under the sway of a charismatic (Manson-like?) stranger. Before long, they think they’re talking to an anthropomorphic cat. They believe their fish can talk. They’re HIGH, people–can’t you see? They literally fly kites in the house. There’s no telling what else they could do while under the influence, but one thing’s for sure: these pint-size junkies are unpredictable, which means things could turn dangerous at any moment.
Ramona Quimby in Ramona The Pest, by Beverly Cleary 
She’s all about the mind games. Sure, Ramona may look like a powerless little girl, but she knows how to make any person’s sanity crumble. Whether she’s yanking a classmate’s hair, embarrassing her big sister Beezus by following her around incessantly, or torturing her kindergarten teacher with ridiculous misunderstandings, Ramona wears her victims down by irritating them. Ramona The Pest? More like Ramona The Terror.
Any kid created by Shel Silverstein
Am I the only one who got the heebie-jeebies reading Where The Sidewalk Ends? You’ve got “The Loser,” whose head fell off; some kid who cooks himself in a pot of “Me-Stew”; “Benjamin Bunn” from Wilmington “whose buttons would not come undone” and therefore could not change clothes or use the toilet ever in his WHOLE LIFE; “Sarah Sylvia Cynthia Stout” who “Would Not Take The Garbage Out” and, presumably, died a hoarder’s death—among others. No wonder I had nightmares in second grade.
Matilda in Matilda, by Roald Dahl
Poor Matilda. Misunderstood by her parents and taunted by her headmistress, she suffers at the hands of cruel adults until she discovers she has telekinetic powers that can be used to her advantage. Things are looking up for Matilda by the end of the book, but I wonder about what happened in her later years. You know who else was mistreated and had telekinetic powers? Carrie, as in Stephen King. And you know how that turned out.
What other kids in books give you the creeps?