James Preller’s Scary Tales series (published by Feiwel & Friends,) is written at about a third grade level (age 7-10), a key stage for hooking kids on reading as a cherished pastime (or dark undertaking). Introducing them to scary stories is a way to examine the darker side of life’s possibilities from the safety of an armchair. These stories will drag them under the chair into the dark shadowy recesses.
The books are short and addictive, much like the Creepover or Poison Apple books… or dare I make a comparison to the ever-haunting Goosebumps machine? The Scary Tales books hold up as truly creepy, but not quite threatening enough to cause nightmares… well, not too many…
Illustrations can truly set the atmosphere in a book, and here the black and white sketches in negative by Iacopo Bruno are a treat that will send shivers through your very being. The printing uses oddly scratched fonts for the vivid sound effects and there are spiders in the margins.
#1: HOME SWEET HORROR
Liam moves into a new home and discovers it was once inhabited by a creepy woman the locals called Bloody Mary. Guess what game his sister and her friend are playing in front of the mirror?
Liam lay awake, too frightened to move. His eyes glued to the walls. Was there a new crack there? A fragile, jagged line that ran down that wall– a crack that wasn’t there yesterday? Was something trying to claw through? The sounds were high-pitched animal cries, sharp, shrill shrieks and unearthly moans.
#2: I SCREAM, YOU SCREAM
Samantha was first in line for the opening of the new amusement park ride The Dragon’s Tooth, touted as the greatest thrill ride ever. An accident happens during the ride, and she is cut off from her family as it becomes clear that the area is under attack by giant, spider-like aliens. Can she help her new friend Andy reach safety? The sense of fear and isolation in this book is tangible. When Sam realizes the explosions are really an alien invasion, she comes face to face with a saucer.
She aimed a fire extinguisher at a wall of flames. A man, also in orange, lay on the ground. He was partly covered in fallen rocks. One leg bent out at an unnatural angle. A puddle of blood oozed beneath his head.
#3: GOOD NIGHT, ZOMBIE
Three kids get locked in the school after dark on a Friday night. The night janitor won’t let them leave and the doors are all locked. He says it’s too dangerous. Then they notice the strange people walking around the schoolyard. “They rise for one night every eighteen years,” Van Der Klemp tells them. “Nobody ever remembers.” Can they survive until dawn?
The moans came, louder and louder, from every direction. As if the creatures were calling to each other. Now, more shapes appeared in the distance, moving toward him. it’s the blood, Carter thought. They smell it.
#4: NIGHTMARELAND
Aaron finds a video game he’s never heard of in the bargain bin and when he brings it home to play, he finds himself lost inside it a little further than usual. He faces off against a pack of slavering, starving, desperate wolves and an army of nasty, evil snowmen. Meanwhile, his sister and a gamer-dude from the pizza shop struggle to get him home safely… because his body’s been left vacant on the couch.
Be warned: Nightmareland is more than a game. Much more. It is the wind in the graveyard, it is the whisper in the keyhole, the claw across the window pane. It is the knife, the fang, and the razor…
#5: ONE-EYED DOLL
The most poignant and frightening of the series for me, a girl discovers a box in the yard of an abandoned house. Beyond the Twilight Zone’s Talking Tina or Mary Downing Hahn’s The Doll in the Garden, this doll holds the spirit of a malevolent witch who can reach out and possess others. Her one true desire is to become a real little girl herself. When the girl’s brother tracks down the former resident of the old house, in a psych ward, she looks as if she has become the doll’s worse half.
He spun around to see the one-eyed witch. Standing upright. She moved quickly, mouth wicked, teeth sharp.
#6: SWAMP MONSTER
A frightful tale of twin brothers who discover an egg in the murk of the Bayou swamps. They take it home as a pet, one that spits poison once it hatches, and decide to share it with the girl who lives next door. What they forget to consider is the cold vengeance of Thing’s mother. (That’s what they name it.) A full-sized swamp monster comes a-calling one rainy night. But its offspring is away visiting the neighbor’s house. Too bad. It carries off brother Chance instead.
Feelings of anger, of rage and revenge. Her eyes opened, yellow in the black water. With a push of her webbed feet, she rose like an arrow to the surface. Up to the air, to the afternoon light. She would hunt them down, those pale faces in the woods.
