[BOOK REVIEW] In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories by Alvin Schwartz

Title:  In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories

Author:  Alvin Schwartz

Artist:  Dirk Zimmer

Genre:  Short Stories / Horror / Drama / Monsters

Year Published: 1984

Year Read:  2017

Publisher:  HarperCollins Publishers

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 6+ (Death and Some Scary Imagery)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

Now, I have been introduced to Alvin Schwartz’s works before through his famous and controversial “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” series and after I found out that Alvin Schwartz had written another pair of horror stories for children called “In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories,” of course I had to give this series a whirl!

This is a collection of horror stories for children and there is a total of seven stories being told in this book.  The stories featured in this collection are:

1. The Teeth
2. In the Graveyard
3. The Green Ribbon
4. In a Dark, Dark Room
5. The Night it Rained
6. The Pirate
7. The Ghost of John

Wow!  Alvin Schwartz really knows how to create stories that are both scary and tame for any child and all of these horror stories contain a mixture of humor and horror that made me both smile and cringe at the same time.  I loved the fact that Alvin Schwartz did some research on these stories and allows the readers to understand where these stories came from as he mentions it in the “Where the Stories Come From” section at the end of the book as I wanted to know where these stories came from.  I also enjoyed many of the stories in this book with my favorites being “The Green Ribbon” and “In a Dark, Dark Room” as I believe that those are the creepiest stories in this collection, especially “The Green Ribbon!”  Dirk Zimmer’s artwork conveys both horror and comedy in this book as the characters have exaggerated features which includes some of the characters have large noses and wide eyes and I also loved the way that the characters look so pale and frightened in most of the images as it shows what kind of horrors the readers will be introduced to when they start reading this book!

The reason why I took off a half point from the star rating was because I felt that there were too many abrupt endings in each story and I wanted to see some closure in these stories, although given the short length of this book, that was to be expected.  Also, even though I have enjoyed Alvin Schwartz’s work on “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” I felt that this collection of horror stories was not as scary as “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.” Maybe it is because the artwork was not as scary as Stephen Gammell’s artwork in “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” and that took away the creepiness of the stories, although stories like “The Green Ribbon” still remained creepy no matter how the illustrations looked like.

Overall, “In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories” is a great collection of horror stories that children will gladly enjoy during Halloween time!  I would recommend this book to children ages six and up since there are some scary stories in this book that might creep out younger readers.

*  1992 North Carolina Children's Book Award

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You might also like:

• Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz

• More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz

• Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones by Alvin Schwartz

[BOOK REVIEW] Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones by Alvin Schwartz

 

 

Title:  Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones

Author:  Alvin Schwartz

Artist:  Stephen Gammell

Genre: Horror / Short Story / Monsters

Year Published: 1991



Year Read: 2016



Series: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark #3

Publisher: HarperCollins

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 6+ (Some Scary Situations and Frightening Imagery)

Buy or Add on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads

YES! YES! YES!

 

Finally, I got the chance to read the final set of stories from Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell’s controversial yet popular series, “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” called “Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones!” In celebration of Halloween, I have decided to revisit this little gem of a series again and I was seriously not disappointed!

This book mostly has a set of scary stories that will haunt you in your sleep, so here are a couple of stories out of this collection:

Harold

The story starts off with two guys named Thomas and Alfred who decided to make a man sized doll that looked exactly like the farmer they hated named Harold and they decided to put the doll outside the pasture to scare off the birds.  Occasionally, Thomas and Alfred would make fun of the Harold doll and sometimes violently hit the doll for no reason at all.  One night however, Thomas and Alfred start to notice strange things about the Harold doll as the doll began to make grunting noises and started moving around by itself.  This starts to creep out both Alfred and Thomas and they decided to leave the pasture to get away from Harold.  But when Thomas decided to go back to the pasture to get the milking stools…

The Red Spot

One night when Ruth was sleeping, she noticed a spider crawling on her face and afterwards, she discovered that she had a big red spot on her left cheek.  She showed the red spot to her mother and her mother kept telling her that the red spot will go away soon enough.  But later on, the red spot got bigger and bigger and soon it began to burst and….

Is Something Wrong?

The story started off with a man spending the night at an empty house due to his car breaking down.  As soon as the man tried to go to sleep, he heard a loud crash and something large and heavy fell through the chimney and went after the man.  The man then started running away from the strange creature, but when he came to the road, the creature tapped him on the shoulder and…

Just like the previous two books in the “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” series, Alvin Schwartz has done an excellent job at narrating these spooky tales that range from being deeply disturbing (“Harold” and “Just Delicious”) to being slightly scary but having a somewhat humorous twist towards the end (“Is Something Wrong)?  I like the fact that Alvin Schwartz is able to juggle between horror and humor in this collection as it made the stories interesting to read through (even though I have always preferred the more straight-forward horror themed stories since I love reading genuinely terrifying tales, especially in October)!  But, probably the best part about this book was the illustrations done by none other than Stephen Gammell!  Now, while I understand that Stephen Gammell’s artwork was highly controversial when this series first came out, I honestly love how horrifying these illustrations are as they make the horror aspects in each of the stories even more effective to read through and I was seriously creeped out by some of the illustrations!  Some of my favorite images in this book were from “Is Something Wrong?” “The Dead Hand,”  “Sam’s New Pet,” and “The Red Spot!”

The reason why I took off half a star from the rating was because the pacing in some of the stories were a bit too slow, especially in the story “The Trouble,” where I wished that the story would have gotten to the main point much quicker.  Also, the reason why this book series was so controversial was due to Stephen Gammell’s frightening artwork.  There are some genuinely horrifying artworks in this book, most notably in stories like “Sam’s New Pet,” “The Dead Hand” and “Is Something Wrong?” and some of the artwork would feature grotesque and creepy characters and characters that are covered in blood.  Parents might want to read this book first before showing it to their children to see if their children can handle the scary content of this book series.

Overall, “Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones” is a truly great finale to Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell’s legendary “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” series and even though this series has come to an end, I will probably still re read this series down the line once more!   I would recommend this book to children ages six and up since the frightening imagery and scary stories might terrify younger children.

You might also like: 

• Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz

• More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz

REASON FOR BEING BANNED: Unsuited for age group, violence

 

[BOOK REVIEW] More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz

Title:  More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Author:  Alvin Schwartz

Artist: Stephen Gammell


Genre: Horror / Short Story



Year Published: 1984



Year Read: 2012



Series: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark #2

Publisher: HarperCollins

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 8+ (Scary Situations and Frightening Imagery)

Buy or Add on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads
 

SCARY STORIES PART TWO!

After reading the first book “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” I just had to read up on the sequel, “More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” which is also written by Alvin Schwartz along with illustrations by Stephen Gammell. “More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” is a continuation of the first book and we are introduced to more spine-tingling tales from this fantastic series as you will definitely be sitting on the edge of your seats after you read this collection of scary stories!

Just like the first book, this book basically contains a collection of scary stories to tell in the dark and they include:

One Sunday Morning

A young woman named Ida decided to go to church on Sunday morning and when she made it to the church, she started to realize that the people at the church were not normal as she saw one of her friends, Josephine Kerr, attend the service, even though she died a month ago…

The Little Black Dog

Billy Mansfield was fighting a man named Silas Burton, who was an enemy of his family and when Billy knocked Silas off his horse, he ended up killing Silas along with his black dog when the dog started barking at Billy.  Unfortunately after that incident, Billy starts noticing a strange black dog following him around…

The Bride

A minister’s daughter just got married and after the wedding ceremony, she decided to play hide and seek and she hid inside a trunk in the attic.  Unfortunately, the lid of the trunk dropped on the daughter and locked her inside the trunk and everyone at the wedding ceremony did not even know that she is missing!

Once again, I was blown away by this collection of scary stories from the creative retellings of Alvin Schwartz!  Alvin Schwartz has done a brilliant job at retelling these ancient scary folktales as each story is just as creepy and intense as the last story and the twist endings are enough to make you scream!  I loved the way that Alvin Schwartz provided an eerie atmosphere to each story as it makes the audience feel scare for the characters and the supernatural activities that surround them and it really brought out the creativity of this book.  I also loved the fact that Alvin Schwartz took the time to research the various folktales dealing with horror and I loved the fact that Alvin Schwartz provided a bibliography section at the end of the book so that way you would be able to go back and check the original sources of these tales!  I enjoyed most of the stories in this collection, but my most favorite stories would have to be “The Bride,” “The Little Black Dog,” “One Sunday Morning,” “Wonderful Sausage” and “The Cat in a Shopping Bag.” Stephen Gammell’s illustrations are as usual, eerily and brilliantly done as the artwork is truly frightening to look at and the black and white colorings of the illustrations really bring out the creepy feel to the stories.  There is much creepy imagery in this book, but probably the scariest image in this book was of the skeletal bride in “The Bride.” 

Just like the first book, this book might be too scary for small children since there are stories about characters being killed and haunted by supernatural forces.  Also, what always made this series so scary for small children is the fact that the illustrations are truly scary and small children might not be able to get through this book because of the scary illustration.  As for why I took off half a point from the rating, I felt that this book was using the same structure that was used in the first book such as in stories like “Cemetery Soup” where the character always steal something from the dead and something haunts them at the end.

Overall, “More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” is just another addition to your “Horror Books for Children” shelf that you just got to check out!  I would recommend this book to children ages eight and up since the often spooky content in this book is too scary for small children.

REASON FOR BEING BANNED: Unsuited for age group, violence

[BOOK REVIEW] Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz

Title:  Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Author:  Alvin Schwartz

Artist:  Stephen Gammell


Genre: Horror / Short Stories



Year Published: 1981



Year Read: 2012



Series: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark #1

Publisher:  Scholastic, Inc.

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 8+ (Frightening Imagery and Scary Situations)

Buy or Add on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads 
 

YES…DEFINITELY YES!

I have always loved reading banned books because even though I am usually curious about the reasons why they were banned in the first place, it just makes me really want to read the books even more!  Well, I just picked up this spooky book for children called “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” by Alvin Schwartz along with illustrations by Stephen Gammell and it basically has several horror folktales collected over the years.  “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” is definitely one horror collection that you just have to read during Halloween!

Basically, this book has a collection of scary stories that you can tell in the dark and they include:

The Big Toe:

In this tale, a young boy finds a large toe in the ground and digs it up and he and his family decided to eat the toe.  But, the young boy will soon realize that you should never pull anything out of the ground as something scary starts happening during the night!

Cold as Clay:

A farmer has a daughter who fell in love with a man named Jim, but the farmer did not like having Jim be around his daughter.  So, the farmer decided to send his daughter to live with her uncle to keep her and Jim apart.  Unfortunately, Jim dies of being heartbroken and the farmer feels guilty about it.  Then, a strange thing happens to the farmer’s daughter after Jim dies…

The White Wolf:

When wolves started attacking the cattle and sheep in French Creek, the state decides to post up a reward for anyone who can kill the wolves.  One man named Bill Williams ends up killing the wolves, but he will soon realize the folly of his wolf killing ways.

Wow! After so many years of reading books that have collections of horror stories that will chill you to the bone (and I have read plenty of books like that), this was one of the few horror books that actually chilled me to the bone!  Alvin Schwartz has done an excellent job at retelling these ancient horror folktales and each story was scary and intense at the same time as the characters involved in each story are either murdered or tortured to death by the dead.  I also loved the way that Alvin Schwartz provided some helpful hints in scaring anyone if you are telling these stories to other people in the dark such as in the “Aaaaaah!” section of the book, Alvin Schwartz provides various moments where the narrator can scream at the audience to give a dramatic effect to the stories.  Some of my favorite stories in this book were “The Big Toe,” “Cold as Clay,” “The White Wolf,” “A New Horse,” and “The Ghost With the Bloody Fingers.” Stephen Gammell’s illustrations were truly haunting yet effective at the same time as the monster images were truly frightening to look at.  Probably the most frightening image in this book was the image of the horse in “A New Horse” as the horse has a misshapen head and you can see a woman’s legs attached to the horse’s back legs.

After looking over the banned books list, I have often seen this book on the list a couple of times and I wondered to myself about why this book was banned in some states?  Well, even though this book is basically retelling scary stories, this book is surprisingly too dark and violent for small children.  There were many stories in this book where characters were killed and dead beings haunt the characters and to add to that, the illustrations are often frightening as there are images of dead beings being covered in blood and having sunken eyes.  Parents might want to read this book first before they read it to their children in order to prevent children from having nightmares if they cannot handle the morbid content of this book.

Overall, “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” is a brilliant collection of scary tales that you can tell in the dark while scaring people during storytelling time! I would strongly recommend this book for children ages eight and up since the morbid content is extremely scary for smaller children.

REASON FOR BEING BANNED: Unsuited for age group, violence

* 1987 Grand Canyon Reader Award