IN A DARK, DARK ROOM and Other Scary Stories

Seven very short, very spooky stories--prefaced by a timely reminder (""When there is no real danger, feeling scared is fun"") and concluded with a list of sources. The well-assorted tales include a variant of ""The Ghostly Hitchhiker,"" featuring a boy; a short, hilarious adaptation of the traditional song, ""A Woman All Skin and Bone"" (""A woman in a graveyard sat./ Ooooh!/ Very short and very fat./ Ooooh!""); and the classic ""Green Ribbon."" The pacing makes at once for comfortable and dramatic reading; the pictures are a ghastly, gloomy, wickedly funny lot. And Schwartz doesn't spoil these stories for later, expanded acquaintance--there's gravity as well as, snap in the telling. Once again, a standout job.