Scared Witless: Thirteen Eerie Tales to Tell

by Martha Hamilton, Mitch Weiss, Kevin Pope (Illustrator)

Overview

Book of the Year in the Juvenile Fiction category finalistKids love to tell stories among themselves, and the two most popular types are funny stories and scary stories. Scared Witless delivers double dividends - it contains thirteen stories that are funny and scary. These tales are surefire entertainment for sleepovers, summer camp and parties. Husband-and-wife team Martha Hamilton and Mitch Weiss, who have helped students become storytellers for decades, include suggestions and guidelines for telling stories effectively. Kevin Pope's appropriately wacky line drawings amplify this comically absurd collection of tales. These scary stories about haunted houses, ghosts and shaggy dogs will teach readers about the importance of courage and resourcefulness.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781939160959
Publisher:	August House Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	05/07/2015
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	64
Sales rank:	527,701
Product dimensions:	7.04(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.75(d)
Lexile:	800L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Martha Hamilton & Mitch Weiss Bio: Martha Hamilton and Mitch Weiss are a husband-and-wife writing and storytelling team known as "Beauty and the Beast Storytellers." They have traveled the world sharing their passion for the oral tradition and the art of telling great stories. They have co-authored thirteen books and two audio recordings with August House. A number of their books have won prestigious awards including the Irma Simonton Black and James H. Black Award for Excellence in Children's Literature (awarded by Bank Street College of Education), Parents' Choice Award, National Parenting Publications Awards, and Storytelling World Award. Mitch and Martha's story collections include world tales that they tell in a conversational manner so that children can easily comprehend and then share the stories by telling them to other students. Parents and teachers can find a wealth of information on how to get children excited about reading, telling world tales, and making up their own stories at Mitch and Martha's website.

Editorial Reviews

The latest collection from the duo better known as Beauty and the Beast Storytellers offers recast versions of one-to-three-minute ghost, jump and shaggy-dog tales, interspersed with performance notes addressed to fledgling performers. A mixture of chestnuts like "The Hairy Toe," original stories and borrowings from Joseph Bruchac ("The Brave Woman and the Flying Head") and others, all feature tellable language ("There was one extraordinary thing about this family-they lived right next door to the . . . graveyard. And every day John walked to and from work through the . . . graveyard"); are illustrated with cartoon fright scenes; by and large stay away from explicit gore and violence; and are just right for inducing "goosebumps, gasps and giggles" in susceptible audiences of any age. (source notes) (Folktales. 8-10, adult)

Kirkus Reviews