Customer Reviews

Favorite Scary Stories of American Children (Grades 3-6)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Richard and Judy Young, professional storytellers based at Silver Dollar City, Mo., collected the favorite scary stories of American children. The authors admonish tellers to tell these stories responsibly in the introduction.

There is a table of contents, but the twenty-three stories are in no apparent order. The illustrations are simple ink drawings with blue accents. They are not integral to the stories.

Most of the tales are American or European in origin and a few are from Asia brought here by immigrants and soldiers returning from Viet Nam.

The stories are mostly quite short and easily told as written. The stories are divided into three groups: for ages 5 or 6, 7 or 8, and 9 or 10. The older group could also enjoy reading the stories.

The source notes, though brief, are detailed. The authors list the history of the tale and in many cases who they first heard it from.

The "Afterword for parents, teachers, and librarians" discusses the importance of storytelling and what to be careful of when telling scary stories.

There is a useful guide to pronunciation.
Karen Woodworth-Roman

I have three children, ages 8-2. The oldest two enjoy me telling "scary" stories around the campfire. Some stories were just too scary to tell them. These are just right for their ages. Scary enough to make them huddle close, but not so scary that they have bad dreams or are too scared to go to the camper alone! The stories are also short enough that they can be committed to memory easily enough. Thank you!

Every child needs a few stories they can tell at campfires or sleepovers. This book has stories with funny endings, and stories with happy endings, and stories with mysterious endings. I've been reading them to my kids in the kitchen, after dinner is over but with all the lights on and all the comforts right there. My kids enjoy them, although you can tell when the little ones get a little nervous.

It's good for kids to overcome feeling afraid. In fact, there is a section at the back of the book on why scary stories help children master their fears. The stories in this book are coded with a symbol for age-appropriateness.

This collection is written by the storytellers at Silver Dollar City near Branson, MO - another connection for our family. There are stories from many different parts of America, and many different ethnic groups.

Some of our favorites in this book are:

Skunnee Wundee and the Stone Giant
Raggelugg
The Golem
Rap...Rap...Rap
She's Got Me!
The Changelings
Red Velvet Ribbon
Wylie and the Hairy Man

When I got this I thought it was going to be scary... it's NOT. Most of the stories I have read them and the rest were not scary and didn't make any sense! I would not tell any one about this book.

I borrowed this book from my cousin's friend when I was ten years old in the fourth grade. Most of the stories was good, but I don't recommend this book to young readers. My favorite story is Bloody Mary. Because of that story, I couldn't sleep. I thought she was going to jump out the mirroir at midnight and kill me, and I start seeing her. Or it was my imagination. I know it wasn't. I do recommend this book for readers.

I bought this as a result from the two positive comments I read that gave it an average of 4.5 stars. This was purchased as a gift and fortunately it was not wrapped with cellophane so I first listened to it. The stories were not scary and they were just stupid. One story talks about a boy being chased by a coffin. The only way he was able to get rid of the coffin was a cough drop. Ha Ha. I was not impressed. The storyteller's vocal voice could have been geared for scary stories (spookiness, etc....)

This book offers a wonderfully broad selection of stories from a variety of traditions and cultures, from the whimsical to the truly spooky. It is an excellent book to have along on camping trips or other excursions with the kids, and sports the unique feature of an age code to indicate which stories are appropriate for what age group.

Read these out loud! They're meant to be told!

We have just begun camping with our children and I purchased this book for campfire stories. Unfortunately, I started reading one of the stories "Wham! Slam..." which the book said was geared to ages 7 and 8 (my audience). The story told of a witch who axed two children to death and then chased two others, killing 11 dogs with a swinging ax and knife. Luckily, she was killed by the 12th who jumped at ther throat. THe children who survived cut out her heart...etc. Not appropriate for most 17 year olds, much less 7-8 year olds. The cover of the book says "for classrooms, storytelling settings, etc." What school? Rated "excellent" by the very conservative Washington Times...

Stories of fright are designed specifically to re-engineer a classic theme in such a way as to leave the reader laden in a substaintial residue of unsavory - yet all too realistic - possibilities. The stories contained in this book fall so far short of said uneasiness that they seem to only encourage the already painful onslaught of boring children. Let us take our children seriously and follow through with a collection of scary stories that actually fulfills its promise of restless dreams.

It was good. My favorite story was Wam Slam Jenny Mo-Jam