Far from being merely a vehicle for entertainment, fantasy, horror, and science fiction have, over the centuries, consistently served as critical instruments for addressing issues within our society. This assertion finds renewed support in the twenty-first century through horror, a genre that has proven capable of capturing the climate of uncertainties, anxieties, tensions, and radicalisms characteristic of our liquid times, as conceptualized by sociologist Zygmunt Bauman. For this reason, it is essential to underscore the importance of the Echoes of Empathy project by the Brazilian researcher, writer, and editor Ariane Saltoris. What is presented here is a well-grounded proposal with significant transformative potential in the field of education through horror—an expression of the fantastic that is able to engage and sustain the attention of diverse audiences across age groups and sociocultural backgrounds. I commend Saltoris for her initiative in embracing fear as an agent for the betterment of society.

This facilitator's guide is a genuinely creative piece of work. Using "The Little Match Girl" as the emotional anchor for a structured conversation about empathy is a smart choice — the story is short, vivid, and universally known, which makes it easy for a group to engage with quickly, but it also carries enormous weight: poverty, invisibility, indifference, and how a society makes peace with death are all present in just a few pages. The way the framework is built — with clear guidance for before, during, and after the reading, plus discussion questions and activities — shows real pedagogical thinking. It doesn't just hand educators a story and hope for the best; it gives them a path to walk their group through discomfort toward reflection, which is exactly what good facilitation should do.