Easy to read but definitely not easy to forget.
Five more spooky shorts from the haunting Mr. Shivers.
Yet another box is found at the pseudo-author’s doorstep along with a note that promises “strange and scary stories.” This time, the box contains a rusty padlock, an owl’s feather, a flashlight battery, fingernail clippings, and a tuft of red hair. Each item correlates to one of the ensuing tales, all told in the third person. Hugh walks home late from school one night and encounters an owl—or is it a monster? Ruby drops her flashlight while looking for a creature under her bed. Tommy, a habitual fingernail chewer, starts using his teeth on other people. Sophie writes a message on the wall of her new room and gets an odd reply. Finally, there’s something—“SCRATCH-SCRATCH”—behind Emma’s locker. Brallier effectively repeats the screamworthy formula established in Beneath the Bed and Other Scary Stories (2019) to add a sense of familiarity to the foreboding. Rubegni’s full-color cartoon illustrations depict racially diverse schoolchildren. A combination of spot, panel, and full-page illustrations helps add drama to the pacing. The abrupt, disquieting endings mix the creepy and weird with the genuinely terrifying, creating a nice balance as readers jump bravely between stories. Each page has around 50 words or less, with longer paragraphs broken up with ample leading and spacing. The final page includes drawing instructions and a short creative writing prompt.
Easy to read but definitely not easy to forget. (Early reader/horror. 5-7)Pub Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-338-61541-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This title could be a fit for those kids whose imaginations occasionally run amok or those whose memories of actual events...
A boy is horrified as his older brother collects increasing numbers of scary and creepy creatures—and brings them all in the house!
Nesbitt delivers this overlong cumulative tale in a series of rhyming couplets. The awestruck younger brother narrates. “It happened just last Halloween, / the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen: / My brother went out after dark / and found a monster in the park.” Soon two hairy spiders, three rats, four toads, five black cats, and so on have invaded their house. The younger brother repeats, “I hope our parents don’t find out,” at the end of each new iteration. The text describes the mayhem that ensues while Slonim has fun giving the various animals hilarious expressions with his cartoon illustrations. Finally the dreaded moment comes when the parents arrive. But instead of gruesome unwanted visitors, there is a menagerie of more welcome inhabitants, including caterpillars, butterflies, geckos, kittens, and gerbils. The original monster that started the story is “a shaggy dog, just big and hairy.” The story takes yet another surprise twist after this one, and with few clues as to its internal logic, readers may find themselves scratching their heads.
This title could be a fit for those kids whose imaginations occasionally run amok or those whose memories of actual events get wildly embellished. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: June 30, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-65059-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Simplified spooks for the we-want-it-just-scary-enough crowd.
A series debut with five screamworthy short stories.
Acquired from a strange box left at pseudo-author Mr. Shivers’ doorstep, the tales are initially introduced via a note to readers. Presented in a mix of first- and third-person narration, the tales run the gamut of eerie episodes. Classmates dare siblings John and Beth to visit a haunted house at night. A child feels a hair in the bottom of their stomach. A creepy statue draped with a tattered quilt haunts a living room. Oliver leaves his toys outside in the rain, but when he looks outside they’ve moved. Lucy hears scraping at the window at night, but mom and dad say it’s just a tree. Brallier’s (The Last Kids on Earth and the Cosmic Beyond, 2018, etc.) strong horror chops translate well into this Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark–lite package for early chapter-book readers. Rubegni mixes high-contrast spot and full-page illustrations, positioning sharply outlined characters against smudgy charcoal backgrounds. The atmospheric, full-color illustrations also aid in decoding. Each page contains fewer than 10 sentences; longer sentences are broken up in multiple lines with ample leading. Occasional words are set in boldface for emphasis and add a little extra thrill factor to the well-paced plots. The final page includes instructions on how to draw Oliver’s teddy bear as well as a few simple creative prompts.
Simplified spooks for the we-want-it-just-scary-enough crowd. (Early reader/horror. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-31853-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Acorn/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
