13 August 2024 by Delacorte Press
E ARC provided by Netgalley
Mason lives in Pearl, North Carolina, where Halloween is a Big Deal. He and his best friend, Serge, decide to go trick or treating, and he's disappointed that he has to take his younger sister with them. Serge is interesting in Becca, so invites her and her friend Mari to go with them, which disappoints Mason. The group knows that children have often gone missing on trick or treat night, and joke that their Assistant Principal, Mr. Kirby, might be behind the disappearances. When Meg is separated from the group, they go looking for her only to see her be absorbed into a creepy tree root creature when the even creepier Mrs. Vernon is nearby. The cops refuse to help, and when Mason gets home, his mother and father don't even remember Meg! Mason understands a little bit about what is going on; when he was younger, his best friend Marco went missing, so Mason has kept a notebook filled with information about the array of children who are unaccounted for in Pearl over the years. The group travels into "Underpearl", which is much like Pearl, but a haven for monsters who want to have a place where they can act like humans. They meet a girl named Gloom who helps them out a bit, and have to fend off giant spiders, scarecrows with pumpkin heads, zombies, and other monsters. Meg has indeed been taken by Mrs. Vernon, who is a witch who steals children so that she can turn their souls into candy and their bodies into creatures known as the Skinless who act as her servants. Mason and his friends must find a way to get the witch to destroy the spell that keeps Underpearl going, so that children no longer have to be sacrificed. Will they be able to save Meg and make sure that the curse is lifted from their town?
Strengths: The cover of this is absolutely creepily awesome, and the story is tied in with Halloween nicely, although it could be read at any time of year. The fact that Mrs. Vernon was distilling the souls of children into candy to feed to the monsters was very clever, especially since it allowed Mason to get back the soul of his sister as long as he had one piece of it. The story of the town is well developed and sets a good background for all of the terrors that the children must face. There's a happy ending, which is always nice, even in a creepy tale!
Weaknesses: I think I was supposed to be a little sympathetic to the monsters and their need for Underpearl, but wasn't quite able to feel that. It should be noted that I read this on a bus to D.C. with a bunch of 8th graders, so don't have as good an understanding of the whole book as I should.
What I really think: I am definitely ordering a copy for the library; I don't need too many details to know that missing sisters, evil witches, and battles with vampires make for an excellent middle grade horror title that fans of Cervantes' The Cursed Moon, Duga's The Replacement, and Currie's The Girl in White will love.
Weaknesses: I think I was supposed to be a little sympathetic to the monsters and their need for Underpearl, but wasn't quite able to feel that. It should be noted that I read this on a bus to D.C. with a bunch of 8th graders, so don't have as good an understanding of the whole book as I should.
What I really think: I am definitely ordering a copy for the library; I don't need too many details to know that missing sisters, evil witches, and battles with vampires make for an excellent middle grade horror title that fans of Cervantes' The Cursed Moon, Duga's The Replacement, and Currie's The Girl in White will love.
Ghostly, Ghastly Tales: Frights to Tell at Night
July 30, 2024 by Gibbs Smith
Copy provided by the publisher
This is a somewhat different collection of scary stories than Poblocki's Tales to Keep You Up at Night, Stine's Stinetinglers, or Allen's Only If You Dare. It's not the style of the stories, which are all well-written and appropriately creepy for middle grade, but in the formatting of the book. I always struggle with reviewing short story collections; I don't necessary want to dissect every single story. I will say that I liked that the stories are grouped by types, so there are Haunted Objects, Grim Ghosts, Creature Feature, Be Careful What You Wish For, and It Goes Bump in the Night. This is great for readers, or teachers looking for tales to regale a whole class with, to help find a certain type of tale.
This is the most heavily illustrated collection of stories I have seen, and Skaffa's illustrations, as well as the plentiful use of darker backgrounds, add to the eerie feel of the book. There are plenty of spooky creatures, frightened children, and atmospheric page decorations of cobwebs, skulls, and creepy vines. Because there is so much ink involved, the book has very heavy paper and an almost graphic novel feel to it. The cover glows in the dark, although I haven't tested it yet. I do like to warn students!
Each story has a "fright level" on it, which will be on point for elementary students; middle school students will probably say that none of the stories are scary enough, because they don't involve brutal, grisly murders!
The stories have a bit of a textbook feel to them, perhaps in part because of the illustrations, but also because of the use of bold text in the stories, and a short discussion about the story's origin at the end of each tale. There are even more notes at the end of the book, covering the author's inspiration. I might have just added these to the end of the chapters instead of putting them at the end of the book. I did enjoy that there was a bibliography of different story collections which inspired the author.
This would be a great gift for a reader of scary tales, or for a favorite teacher who reads aloud to classes. Maybe it's the pink end papers with the skulls, but something about this just makes it a fancier book than many other scary short story collections.
August 20, 2024 by Holiday House
E E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Reviewing short stories is very difficult; I always feel like I should review each story individually to really do the book justice, but that is just... hard. SO! You need to buy this book for the story about Toasty Tarts. Just do it. Allen's Only if You Dare and Out to Get You! circulate constantly in my library, especially with their spooky, glow in the dark covers.
The illustrations give these a feel of the Schwartz Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, which was first published in 1981 and still is in constant use. The stories are much better, though, is a weird, creepy, David Lubar Lawn Weenies kind of way.
I can't really explain why this is so good, but if you have a middle school library where scary stories are in high demand, just go ahead and buy two copies. I can't wait to see if the giant eyeball on the cover glows in the dark as well!
Reviewing short stories is very difficult; I always feel like I should review each story individually to really do the book justice, but that is just... hard. SO! You need to buy this book for the story about Toasty Tarts. Just do it. Allen's Only if You Dare and Out to Get You! circulate constantly in my library, especially with their spooky, glow in the dark covers.
The illustrations give these a feel of the Schwartz Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, which was first published in 1981 and still is in constant use. The stories are much better, though, is a weird, creepy, David Lubar Lawn Weenies kind of way.
I can't really explain why this is so good, but if you have a middle school library where scary stories are in high demand, just go ahead and buy two copies. I can't wait to see if the giant eyeball on the cover glows in the dark as well!
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