All Hallows' Eve: 13 Stories [Hardcover]

Vivian Vande Velde (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2006

A boy is trapped in a possessed car that has stalled in the path of an oncoming train. A girl is dragged into a crypt during a field trip to an eighteenth-century cemetery. A group of friends meet their fate after an unsettling visit with a backwoods psychic. And that's just the beginning.

    

Celebrated author Vivian Vande Velde is at her spine-tingling best in this collection of thirteen scary stories, all of which take place on Halloween night. With tales that range from the disturbing to the downright gruesome, this is one collection that teens will want to read with the lights on . . . and the doors locked.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6 Up–A collection of 13 stories that will thrill and chill readers. Each tale takes place on Halloween, and some stories are variations on familiar tales. Many are set in upstate New York, which lends a nice Ichabod Crane feel to the book. Well crafted, these spine-tingling selections rely on gotcha moments and old-fashioned suspense rather than gross-out horror. While all of them are enjoyable and worth mulling over, several stand out: in the creepy Morgan Roehmar's Boys, a girl acting the part of a knifing victim during a haunted hayride comes face to face with a long-dead child murderer. Pretending describes a first date gone horribly wrong. MARIAN features a teen driver who finds himself at the mercy of his car, and the horrifying My Real Mother describes an adopted teen who searches for her blood (and, as it turns out, blood-sucking) mother, while leaving behind a gruesome mess at her adoptive parents' home. The writing is crisp and concise and truly packs a punch. Fans of horror fiction and suspense will not be disappointed.–Elaine Baran Black, Gwinnett County Public Library, Lawrenceville, GA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Creepy and gruesome, these horror stories all take place on Halloween night when high-school characters bridge the gap between the living and the dead. "He opened the door, and a body fell out, a young woman with a bloody T-shirt and a knife sticking out of her back." Bodies are sawed into pieces and packed in plastic bags while a serial killer roams free. The grisly detail is sometimes funny, whether it's the threat to suck out a teen's brains through his eye sockets, or parents dressed as vampires offering their daughter's date a drink--A, B, or O-negative. The plots also have surprising twists and turns, with the trickster often outtricked. In a great story for readers' theater, two girls talk about their friendship in parallel narratives that present very different viewpoints of their relationship--which one will murder the other? Halloween fans too old for trick-or-treating will enjoy this, especially as a read-aloud. For more chilling tales, suggest Anthony Horowitz's^B Horowitz Horror (2006). Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books (September 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152055762
• ISBN-13: 978-0152055769
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,463,741 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Frightening, Disturbing...a Winner for Teens, October 26, 2006

By 

Jesse Penitent "zekaille" (Somewhere, Out There) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Hallows' Eve: 13 Stories (Hardcover)

VandeVelde can do no wrong as far as I am concerned. This collection will have teen (and older--I've got a good 35 years on the intended audience) horror enthusiasts turning pages all night.

While gore mongers won't be satisfied, those who like to be creeped out, chilled and even a little upset will be delighted.

Among the best of these terrific tales:

MORGAN ROEHMER'S BOYS--takes the haunted hayride ghost story and gives it a twist...then twists it sharply again in a nasty, vicious direction

NOW AND WHEN--What happens when five teens are allowed one question each from a backwood's psychic. Even though I could see where the story was going, I was completely sucker punched by the epilogue. It still haunts and eats at me.

BEST FRIENDS--Told in two voices. One friend tells a story through rose colored glasses, the other tells the bitter truth...and the ending is a bitter one indeed.

MY REAL MOTHER--Our heroine searches for her "real" mother when her adoptive mother is less than sympathetic to her demands. You just KNOW that the "real" mother is going to be someone our heroine won't want to know. And the ending holds a breathtaking shock for the reader.

These are the four that stand out in my mind, but all all well written, shivery and a good choice for a spooky night at home--or even for a read aloud among teens. Lots of fun.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, August 29, 2006

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Hallows' Eve: 13 Stories (Hardcover)

I have been a fan of Vivian Vande Velde ever since I read Curses, Inc. and Other Stories. I quickly followed that up by reading several of her other books, including Now You See It . . . (Magic Carpet Books) and Companions of the Night. Ms. Vande Velde is the master of spooky stories, whether they be contemporary, paranormal, or fantasy. What she's even better at, though, is writing short stories that have a way of staying with you long after you finish reading them.

With ALL HALLOWS' EVE, the author has brought us thirteen original short stories that, as a whole, scared the bejesus out of me. Whether the story is two pages long or ten, you find yourself immersed in the life of whatever tale the author is telling--and find yourself coming out, at the end of it, glad you're reading with the lights on.

The stories in this collection include:

COME IN AND REST A SPELL
MARIAN
MORGAN ROEHMAR'S BOYS
ONLY ON ALL HALLOWS' EVE
CEMETERY FIELD TRIP
BEST FRIENDS
PRETENDING
I WANT TO THANK YOU
WHEN AND HOW
WHEN MY PARENTS COME TO VISIT
EDWARD, LOST AND FAR FROM HOME
MY REAL MOTHER
HOLDING ON

There is nothing timid about this collection. I have always loved Halloween; it is, in fact, my second favorite holiday, beat out only by Christmas. After reading these short stories, though, I will never look at hay rides, cemeteries, school trips, cackling old ladies, or scarecrows on front porches in the same way. I read, on a regular basis, the stories of horror/paranormal authors Dean Koontz and Stephen King, and these stories by Vivian Vande Velde freaked me out just as much as those by my horror heroes. Be warned, though. Read MORGAN ROEHMAR'S BOYS, CEMETERY FIELD TRIP, and MY REAL MOTHER at your own risk--and with those lights on.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Creepy, Fun Autumn Tales, October 28, 2007

By 

CreepyT "CreepyTendencies" (Colorado, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: All Hallows' Eve: 13 Stories (Hardcover)

While I'm not one to enjoy many young adult books, and I generally like my horror a little more "down and dirty," I'm also not one to pass on creepy Halloween tales. True, these tales may not be gory, explicit, raunchy, or intense thrill rides. However, they will send a chill up your spine. While none of the stories are long enough to truly suck the reader into the plot, this collection is positively enjoyably spooky and light-hearted.

The book opens with "Come In and Rest a Spell," a tale of a witch and what she might trade in exchange for her services. "Morgan Roehmar's Boys" is one of my favorites, as well as one of the longest stories of the book (though still only about 30 pages). It's about a young girl working at a Halloween haunt, and what might happen when a local serial killer is not at rest. "Only on All Hallows' Eve" is a short but humorous tale that tells of quarrelling lovers whom death did not part. "Cemetery Field Trip" boasts that not all ghosts are bad, and not all humans are good. "Best Friends" is another humorous tale that depicts how not all perceptions are accurate. "Pretending" is another good story that portrays a bloodsucking Halloween prank with a twist.

Each tale has its own unique spin on some clichéd situations, keeping each and every story interesting. Some make you smile or chuckle, while others send shivers up and down your spine. One thing this book definitely is not, however, is boring.

Vande Velde has put together a fun collection of campfire tales of things that go bump in the night readers of any age will enjoy. Recommended for fans of all things Halloween, and for those who can appreciate what more subtle, mild, subdued and fun horror has to offer.