About Kids.Ghostvillage.com

Kids.Ghostvillage.com was created by author and Ghostvillage.com founder, Jeff Belanger. The idea began back in 2004 when Jeff was being interviewed by a local newspaper reporter about one of his books. The reporter asked, "Do you have any children?" To which Jeff replied, "No."

"If you did, what would you tell them about ghosts?" The reporter asked.

Belanger was stumped (which doesn't happen too often). Having never given the idea much thought, Jeff simply didn't know what he would say. In 2007, Jeff became a proud dad, and in 2008 his first book for children (Who Is Haunting the White House?) was published. It was simply time to come up with an answer to that reporter's question. Kids.Ghostvillage.com is an attempt to put everything on the table when it comes to kids and the paranormal. The site is dedicated to offering the ideas of professionals, parents, and kids on how to deal with the subject of the paranormal.

Ghosts are in pop culture, they're on TV, they're on the Web. Children are exposed at a young age, and they have questions. Ghosts offer us an innovative teaching tool (after all, you can't study ghosts without looking at history), they offer us a direct link to our past, and they enable us to discuss the touchy subject of death and what comes next.

Kids.Ghostvillage.com strives to remain religiously neutral. We encourage parents to discuss the subject with their children openly, and we hope, through education, to take some of the fear away from things that may go bump in the night.

Kids.Ghostvillage.com Advisory Board

The following individuals serve in an advisory capacity to Kids.Ghostvillage.com. Though these individuals are not responsible for the content that is published on Kids.Ghostvillage.com, they do offer invaluable guidance on direction and issues related to children and education.

Susan A. Belanger, Ph.D.: Dr. Belanger is the Foster Care Clinic Coordinator for a Connecticut health center. She works with a multi-disciplinary team providing mental health assessments to all children entering the foster care system. Dr. Belanger holds Masters of Arts and Doctorate degrees in Developmental Psychology and has been practicing, publishing, and presenting in the field of child welfare and mental health with children, adolescents, and their families for over 12 years. Dr. Belanger is a former college Adjunct Lecturer in psychology and is skilled in research and analysis including such areas as program evaluation, outcome measurement, quality assurance, and compliance measures. Dr. Belanger has served on several local and national advisory boards, including New York City's Council of Family and Child Care Agencies (COFCCA) Managed Health Care Task Force collecting data aimed at improving the delivery of quality medical services to children in foster care in New York City.

Chris Quirk, M.S. ED.: Chris Quirk has worked in the field of psychology and education since 1987. He currently works as a director of special services for a Connecticut school district, and offers input into curriculum as well as working with the special educational needs of children.

Q.L. Pearce: Q.L. Pearce began her career as a writer and editor in 1985 with Lowell House / Roxbury Press in Los Angeles. She has since written more than one hundred and twenty books for children, including eight collections of scary stories for middle grade and film tie-in books for the Fox animated film Titan AE and the Universal animated series Land Before Time. Q believes strongly in the value of scary books for young readers. When asked what credentials she has which qualify her as an expert in this area she replies, "I was a child once. That was very scary."

Christopher Balzano: Christopher Balzano is the author of multiple books on the paranormal including Picture Yourself Ghost Hunting. He's worked as a librarian and high school teacher since graduating college, and he's the founder of Crossroads Writing and Media Group.