Kirkus Reviews QR Code
THE YOUNG OXFORD BOOK OF NASTY ENDINGS by Dennis Pepper

THE YOUNG OXFORD BOOK OF NASTY ENDINGS

edited by Dennis Pepper

Pub Date: Aug. 23rd, 1998
ISBN: 0-19-278151-0
Publisher: Oxford Univ.

Pepper (The Oxford Book of Scary Tales, 1992, etc.) has gathered 34 short stories into this collection that will certainly offer readers the occasional frisson. While none of the tales are original, most still carry a potent charge. Ray Bradbury’s “The Veldt” seems even more pertinent today, in the light of rising school violence; Gerald Kersh’s “The Old Burying Place” offers a clear- eyed view of how “civilized” life would be after a nuclear war; and Fredric Brown’s “Voodoo” suggests a different route for winning a divorce settlement—black magic. Most of the stories feature children or young adults; while many of the stories are brief in length, they are all of high quality in this collection that will find an audience at Halloween and during the rest of the school year. (b&w illustrations) (Fiction. 10-14)