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.

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.