Customer Reviews

More Scarey Stories to Tell in the Dark

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Kindergarten and first-grade students love story time. However, this summer I am teaching children who have completed third grade. They have that "I'm too cool to have a story read to me" attitude. That is until one of my students checked this book out of the library. Every day they would beg me to read stories from the book -- and not just one, but two, three or four. They would grab their chairs and circle as close as they could to me. One of the students would always run and turn out the lights to help with the atmosphere. Using different voices, many pauses and the build up of suspense, I was able to scare the living bejeebeez out of them many times. They loved it! Thank you for giving me a book that's "cool" for third/fourth grade story time! I would highly recommend it to teachers of grades 3-6.

During a recent Cub Scout campout, I realized that I needed to expand my stock of scary stories. I checked this book out, and it is just perfect! These 28 (if I counted correctly) stories run from the funny to the downright frightening. Some are short and some are long. And, as an added bonus, one of these 28 is actually a song (Ba-Rooom!), and one is a game (A Ghost in the Mirror).

This is a great book, with a lot of really nifty stories. I especially like the "gotcha" stories, where you grab someone at the climax of the story. So if you want some scary stories for younger listeners, then I highly recommend that you get this book!

You know what, this book still scares the living ... outa me. There are some things that I won't even do today like go in a really dark place, or walk down a street at night. This is one book where the illustrator can be appreciated as much as the author was. You have got to get this book!!!

This is a revised edition of a book that was part of a series so famously gruesome that it was the most frequently challenged book of the nineties. This was not because of the stories themselves, which are mostly retellings of pretty well known urban legends and ghost stories, but because of the ORIGINAL artwork by Stephen Gammell.

Those illustrations are so lurid, frightening, and demented that several of them frighten me to this day, as an adult.

Helquist is a talented artist to be sure, but don't make the mistake of purchasing this new edition of More Scary Stories if you are truly looking to be scared: invest in an older copy: You won't regret it. (Unless of course you are buying it for a small child or nightmare-prone preteen, in which case I would NOT recommend the older editions.)

PLEASE READ!

This collection of folklore is absolutely wonderful. Alvin Schwartz writes in a style that is both easy to read and has a lasting effect that tells the story in a unique way for readers of all ages.

But...

I am VERY disappointed in the artwork. I have the original copies that were printed in the early 90's with illustrations by Steven Gammell. If you wish to see a some examples of his works, here are some links:

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http://www.amazon.com/Scary-Stories-Tales-Chill-Bones/dp/0060217944/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1286345351&sr=1-8


I'm not knocking Brett Helquist; his style is well suited for "Series of Unfortunate Events" but not Alvin Schwartz' "Scary Stories" collection. Some reviewers wrote that this collection was not scary at all; I beg to differ....

The reason the stories are scary is because of the ART! There's the overused saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words" ... that sums up Steven Gammell. I first read these books in third grade and they stuck with me ever since, simply because of the terribly gruesome and disturbing imagery. The stories by themselves are uninteresting and honestly, Brett Helquist's illustrations do not give this book series justice whatsoever!!

I also realize that the older copies that have Steven Gammell's illustrations are hard to find here on Amazon. This saddens me... If you happen to find the originals, PLEASE buy them. You won't regret it.

See for yourself. You make the judgement call.

When I first first bought this audiobook, I thought that these stories wouldn't really be that great and certainly not that scary. But I was wrong. These strories are TERRIFYING! What actually makes them terrifying in the audiobook version is the narrator. He has such a dark and creepy voice while reading these stories. I am now 17 and I still can't listen to these stories alone at night. If you want to be scared out of your wits, read or listen to these stories. Listen to them in the dark by yourself. I DARE YOU! You won't last 5 minutes.

I'm the kind of person who loves to read, and if it is not fantasy, it is folklore. But i don't really like one scary story, I like a collection of stories. Animorphs were not my cup of tea, and I hated Goosebumps. But in the fourth grade, it all changed.
When I was in fourth grade, a kid in my class showed me these books and instantly, I was hooked! Now at 12, I appreciate them more when I was 11. I own all three books(if only the duo would have another one) But the second book obviously has the best bunch. My favorite stories in this book are Oh Susannah!, The Wreck, Wonderful sausage, One Sunday Morning,The Bride, Clinkity-Clink, The Drum, and many others! The author even tries to make it fun by adding some funny stories. I also reccomend the tapes-I got the first one on tape at the library and it's a blast! I think all ages could read it. It has no inappropriate dialoug, but if you have young children, I wouldn't reccomend this books, because the illustrations can be frightning(especially Oh Susannah, and the Bride,)( shudder)But if you have kids 10 and over, these are your answers to a great series and starters for the horror genre. Buy them! you won't be sorry!

I'm 23 and i'm still get creeped out by these stories! I don't know how I was able to handle them when I was younger. And those pictures...my goodness! The images get stuck in my head when I try to sleep at night. These stories will definitely scare you, no matter how old you are.

The second in the Scary Stories series, this one has even darker stories and even spookier illustrations than the first! Pure nightmare inducing fun for youngsters (and even us adults, I must admit). These books are written in perfect, around the campfire brevity, which only adds to their greatness. A must for any kid who plans on going to overnight summer camp! Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell ought to be honored for bringing young kids such a memorable approach to spook stories! The scariest illustrations in this volume are for "One Sunday Morning", "Somebody Fell From Aloft", "Clinkity-Clink", "The Bride", and "Oh, Susannah!". A must have for the young Horror fan!

This second Scary Stories book by Alvin Schwartz is almost as good as the first title. The stories are great to read to yourself or young ones. The creepy drawings by Stephen Gammell add so much more detail to each story -- in short they are excellent. In all this book is lots of fun for all ages that are interested in scary stories from folklore.