Are you brave enough for Scary Stories?
Some boys and girls were at a party one night. There was a graveyard down the street, and they were talking about how scary it was.
"Don't ever stand on a grave after dark," one of the boys said. "The person inside will grab you."
"A grave doesn't scare me," said one of the girls. "I'll do it right now. . . ."
Welcome to the macabre world of Scary Stories. Inside, you'll find alarming tales of horror, dark revenge, and the supernatural, with spine-tingling illustrations by renowned artist Brett Helquist.
Stories of ghosts and witches, "jump" stories, scary songs, and modern-day scary stories.
One morning John Sullivan found himself walking along a street downtown. He could not explain what he was doing there, or how he got there, or where he had been earlier. He didn't even know what time it was.
He saw a woman walking toward him and stopped her. "I'm afraid I forgot my watch," he said, and smiled. "Can you tell me the time?" When she saw him, she screamed and ran.
Then John Sullivan noticed that other people were afraid of him. When they saw him coming, they flattened themselves against a building, or ran across the street to stay out of his way.
"There must be something wrong with me," John Sullivan thought. "I'd better go home."
He hailed a taxi, but the driver took one look at him and sped away.
John Sullivan did not understand what was going on, and it scared him. "Maybe somebody at home can come and get me," he thought. He found a telephone and called his wife, but a voice he did not recognize answered.
"Is Mrs. Sullivan there?" he asked.
"No, she is at a funeral," the voice said. "Mr. Sullivan was killed yesterday in an accident downtown."
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Copyright © by Alvin Schwartz. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.threeoutside
Posted April 16, 2012
Which is not a bad thing! These are some very familiar, in some cases, very OLD, spooky stories of the kinds that kids and grownups have been telling around campfires from time immemorial. The style and tropes of story-telling have changed over the centuries, even over decades, so some of these seem a little pointless, or fall flat, when you just read them out of the book to yourself. But if you get the dramatization right, the timing, the hushing of voice, the expression of your eyes, just right - and the only light flickers just inside your little circle of wide-eyed listeners, with darkness and mystery looming right over your shoulders - some of these stories will have sleeping bags scrunched VERY close together for the rest of the night. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants some great spooky slumber party or campfire stories to scare the bejeezus out of your audience.
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Posted October 31, 2011
Bought for my grandson who loves scary stories. He loves it and would recommend it to anyone interested in scary stories.
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Posted October 21, 2011
Scary stories chill my bones the one story I loved is called the hook! The main characters are Donald and Sarah. The hook is about a boy and girl who go to the movies and heard some murder was on the loose with a hook for a hand it was very frightening and a real bone chiller. Another one of my favorites is called The Big Toe. It's main Character is a little boy that digs up a big toe and later that night he ate it for dinner. This one is my very favorite of them all It's called Cold as Clay. The main characters are a farmer his daughter and his daughter's love Jim. Now the daughter got sent away and while she was gone he died. I'm not telling any more so read it if you dare.
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Posted September 20, 2011
I loved this collection when I was in late elementary/early middle school. I remember my 5th grade homeroom teacher letting me read these stories to my class and scaring the snot out of them.
I've read that these books have been banned in many schools due to the "disturbing artwork" and the fact that the stories are too scary. The bottom line is this: Know your kids. I really don't think they're inappropriate for older kids, such as 4th grade and up, but they would be too intense for younger kids.
Haven't read this in years. The short stories are creepy and some you might recognize. What makes it even more creepy is the drawings. Definitely worth reading, especially on Halloween.
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Posted December 10, 2010
Are you scared yet.? That's just one of the many horrifying lines that Alvin Schwartz writes. Each story makes you want to scream like my favorite story. Its about these 3 brothers. They are home alone with there baby sitter, when the phone rings and everything goes dark. Theres footsteps slowly creeping down the steps when out of no where..
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Posted November 10, 2009
I Also Recommend:
This book is so scary that kids and parents will like it to. Now what I really wanted to say is that this book is great.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.When I was about nine I found this book in my school library. I absolutely loved it. That was sixteen years ago and I still enjoy it. I'm a childrens lead at Barnes and Noble and I always recommend this book to the older kids if there looking for a scary book.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.The Book is gruesome, filled with many stories. Stories that make you laugh and be afraid. Amazing drawings and story (or multiple stories), but i dont know if getting scared is a good lesson? Or not? The book is very short and can probably be read in an hour and a half, with normal-big size writing.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.I absolutely love all the books in this collection. I first read these books when I was 9 years old. That was almost 20 years ago. They stayed in my collection throughout the years because these stories stayed with me. I am actually writing this review because I'm buying the series for my daughter. I can't even pick a favorite because I love them all, they are some of the spookiest stories I have ever read, and let me tell you, I have read a lot of spooky books.
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Posted March 16, 2009
I read Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz. I would give this book a three out of 5 star rating. I give it this rating because the book was a good idea mainly because of the fact that it involves the reader(s) participation other than just picking it up and reading it, what I mean is that at the end of a story or when the story reaches a climax, the book tells you to scream at the audience or something like that. It is also full of poems and songs along with stories and "creepy" tales. I gave it the second star because it was somewhat creepy. but Alvin Schwartz definately could've written the stories with more detail.
For that reason, I didn't like the book. It made for an extremely boring read because it was like a 5th grader wrote it. It was probably meant for 4th graders, but that doesn't mean that it can't be written less boringly if that's a word.
Anonymous
Posted March 4, 2009
i remember reading these in elementary school just to scare the crap out of all my friends. Today reading these stories i am still creeped out but i love it! This collection of books will never get old. Its a great book for people of all ages.
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Posted January 24, 2009
This book kept me on the edge of my seat. The book has a few scary and mystery stories. My favorite scary story is " There Is Room For One More". My favorite mystery story is "The Babysitter". I think kids ages 7 and up should read this. This is the best book ever!!!
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Posted January 15, 2009
The Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was awful; and I¿ll tell you why. One of the stories is about screaming, bloody heads dropping from a fireplace. Another is about a boy who finds a hairy toe in the ground, and it¿s not connected to a body! The rest of the stories have the same affect on me; they all were terrifying to me! It¿s fine to read the book, if you want to sleep with one eye open for a month! Keep this book away from little children! Reading this book left me wanting to burn it on a cold day! DON¿T READ IT!!!!!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark: Collected from American Folklore was the first horror short stories that I've ever read. And it totally scared the crap out of me. I loved reading it during Halloween time. These tales are wicked great spine chills.
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Posted October 29, 2008
sdfsdf
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Posted October 8, 2008
short stories that are really scary and give you chills.
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Posted August 24, 2008
I love love love this book...I used to read this book to my little cousins about 10yrs ago... they still to this day talk about how fun it was when they slept over and i would read this book to them in the dark with a flashlight! This book helped to created some really fun memories! Now i have a daughter who gets a kick out of being scared, so i will pass down the fun to her:)
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Posted December 20, 2007
It was fun to read, and there were a lot of stories to read. The stories were ok. One of the stories was about a boy who found a toe in the garden, and ate it for dinner. Then the ghost haunted him one night.
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Posted January 10, 2008
In this book i liked probly only 3 short stories in it. They were called High Beams, Cold as Clay, and The Girl Who stood on a Grave i thought those where the best out of the other stories they had in this book
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Overview
Are you brave enough for Scary Stories?
Some boys and girls were at a party one night. There was a graveyard down the street, and they were talking about how scary it was.
"Don't ever stand on a grave after dark," one of the boys said. "The person inside will grab you."
"A grave doesn't scare me," said one of the girls. "I'll do it right now. . . ."
Welcome to the macabre world of Scary Stories. Inside, you'll find alarming tales of horror, ...