From School Library Journal
Gr 5-7--Eight absorbing situations in modern-day settings related in time-honored cautionary-tale fashion. The 10-minute designation is appropriate for good readers, but some students may take longer to devour these morsels. In the first story, a teenager wishing desperately to fit in and be asked to join the coolest group in her new high school, the Horror Club, leaves a diary filled with bogus accounts of paranormal experiences for the group to find. When she has to prove herself to them, she finds she's gotten "in" to the spirit world farther than she had anticipated. In all of the selections, the protagonists proceed into danger against their better judgment and pay a horrific price. Only in the final story, "My Father, the V.P.," does the consequence of boldness not require relinquishment of human life. One full-page illustration in each tale focuses on the high point of terror, giving a taste of reality to readers' mental images. Those who crave a real scare will not be disappointed in any of them for the plot developments include suspense and foreshadowing at each step of the doomed young people's paths. Readers who prefer less suspense, but equally devastating endings may try William A. Walker's Five-Minute Chillers (Sterling, 1995). Ann G. Brouse, Steele Memorial Library, Elmira, NY
Copyright 1996 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
