Welcome to Night Vale
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this podcast.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Welcome to Night Vale is a sci-fi podcast set in the fictional town of Night Vale. The show will likely be entertaining for both kids and adults. Episodes act as fictional radio broadcasts from the town, detailing stories of ghosts, mysteries, town conflicts, aliens, and comets, as well as strange music, weather updates, and traffic reports. The town is not like your regular city: There are strange happenings and confused citizens call in to the radio host to detail their eerie experiences. Most episodes could be fun for the whole family to enjoy, but some explore scarier concepts such as fictional ghostly rituals and sacrifices. The show uses more advanced language, which may go over younger kids' heads and may need to be explained to some older kids. Younger audiences may not readily understand that the broadcast is fictional.
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What’s It About?
WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE is a science fiction podcast acting as a community updates radio broadcast for the fictional desert town of Night Vale. Episodes are released twice a month detailing weather, traffic reports, spooky stories or conspiracies from the town's latest incidents, mysterious nightly occurrences, and more. In Night Vale, "weather" means music breaks. The eerie yet humorous broadcast has hundreds of episodes to choose from, so listeners can start from the beginning and learn all of the Night Vale lore or skip around to find the stories that spark their imagination. Episodes usually detail one central story with various unique characters and plots, but they're interrupted by citizens of Night Vale calling in to the show, music breaks, fictional advertisements, and traffic updates. Some episodes are structured as bedtime stories, where the broadcast host tells the audience a fictional narrative uninterrupted.
Is It Any Good?
People who enjoy Stephen King, R.L. Stine, or David Lynch will enjoy this spooky yet fun podcast. Welcome to Night Vale combines light-hearted storytelling, science fiction, and horror in an entertaining fictional broadcast for the citizens of Night Vale. Most stories detailed in the broadcast are written to be silly, making the horror aspects less scary. This podcast is fun for adults while also providing a great entry into science fiction and horror stories for kids and tweens. The podcast's website provides links to dozens of published stories that parents can read with their kids. Some language used is a bit more advanced than some younger audiences may be able to understand.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about what makes a show like Welcome to Night Vale science fiction. How do we differentiate between real science and science fiction? How is science used to create these stories?
Episodes typically weave in humor alongside scary descriptions. How does humor help make those spookier moments less serious? How do we use humor in real-life scenarios to lighten moods?
There are standalone books that families can read in addition to listening to the podcast. How does having additional ways to engage with the fictional city of Night Vale add to its storytelling and world-building capabilities?
Night Vale is an imagined world with its own history, events, and citizens. How does Night Vale spark your imagination? What do you think the town looks like?
Podcast Details
- Release date: June 15, 2012
- Genre: Storytelling
- Average Run Time: 26 minutes
- Website: https://www.welcometonightvale.com/
- Host: Cecil Baldwin
- Publisher: Night Vale Presents
- Pricing structure: Paid, Free (Free on streaming platforms, ad free listening available through paid subscriptions.)
- Topics: STEM, Magic and Fantasy, Adventures, Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires, Science and Nature, Space and Aliens
- Last updated: October 14, 2022
Our Editors Recommend
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R.L. Stine's Story Club
Bite-sized spooky stories with humor and scares.
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Milky Way Underground
Dream-like journey mirrors real life issues; heavier topics.
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The Witch in the Woods
Original stories meet classic horror tales; scary content.
For kids who love spooky stories
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