Book Review: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark: Three Books to Chill Your Bones compiled by Alvin Schwartz with drawings by Stephen Gammell

This kid-friendly horror anthology features lots and lots of stories (typically one or two pages long) from the eerie to the ridiculous. Some are fairly familiar (the night-time hitchhiking woman who disappears just before the driver gets to her home; someone who takes money to spend a night in a haunted house; others like that). Some are designed to be read out loud, like by candlelight or during a campfire. Some are macabre songs. Some are laugh out loud funny. The author collected these stories from across America and has done a great job putting together light and entertaining materials. The drawings by Stephen Gammell are a bit gruesome but they are in black and white, which takes some of the horror out. Still, the illustrations are a bit more macabre than the stories.

I may use some of these stories next time we go Cub Scout camping.

Recommended.