Module 15, Scary Stories

Cover

 Scary Stories, By Alvin Schwartz 

Overview: Scary Stories is a collection of short scary stories. Each story is about one to two pages with terrifying short stories and even more terrifying illustrations. The short stories range from topics about brains, bloody fingers and big toes.

Schwartz, A . (1989). Scary stories to tell in the dark. New York, NY: Harper Collins publisher.

Little Library Review: I love this book! For me it is a classic of my childhood. The interesting thing about the questionable nature of the book is that I read this book first in the 90's in early elementary and no one was up in arms about it at the time. I like this book for those readers that just love to scare themselves and test their boundaries of fear. This book is graphic and scary and I would not read this with very young readers. The spooky stories will definitely have you visualizing and hesitant of walking around in the dark, but that is the fun of reading a book like this. This book would be perfect for a sleepover party to scary the tuna salad out of each other right before bed time. :)

Other Professional Reviews:
Grade 3-8. This folklore collection is unusually good. True to the genre, the stories contain suitable for telling, particularly for Halloween or around the campfire. Contemporary and humorous stories are blended with spooky ones. The scholarship in the source notes and bibliography are useful to serious literature students. Although the cover is not charming, it hints to macabre, shadowy black and white illustrations inside. The stories are not unbearably grotesque:they are suitable for even low elementary grades.

Chamberlin, L. B. (1982). Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (Book Review). School Library Journal, 28(5), 81.

Using it in the Library 📖: An activity that can be done with this book is to have a faux camp out in the library. The librarian can have students bring their sleeping bags or towel as you read aloud the scary stories together. It would be a perfect read aloud to do near Halloween but really I am sure the kids would enjoy this activity anytime of year. This could be done with a book club, reward or a just because.