Book Review: Campfire Tales by William F. Forgey

Campfire Tales: Ghoulies, Ghosties, and Long-Leggety Beasties by William F. Forgey

This anthology is written by a Scout leader who has told many tales around campfires. The introduction provides some general guidance for selecting and delivering such tales. The advice is taken from a previous book, Campfire Stories, by the same author. Some of the stories in this collection have a short paragraph at the beginning about adapting the story for campfire telling. All of the stories at the end have an outline of the major story beats to aid memorizing (because one does not want to read a story out loud but tell the story from memory).

The stories run the gamut from tales crafted by the author or author's friends, stories adapted by the author from other authors, and stories by other authors, including famous ones like Jack London, Ambrose Bierce, and Algernon Blackwood. They have varying ranges of supernatural elements and creepiness. I found most of the stories are more appropriate for the Troop level of scouts (sixth- to twelfth-graders) since they get a bit gruesome and involve things like suicide and cannibalism that I would not feel comfortable telling to elementary-school kids.

Mildly recommended--this is better as a primer for a storyteller than for general reading enjoyment.