In honor of Banned Books Week, I decided to post this review of Scary Stories 3 earlier than I had planned. Why, you may ask? Well, this series of books is on the list of most frequently challenged books between 1990 and 1999. So, to celebrate this series and to serve as a little teaser for Fright Fest, I’ve decided to feature one of these books every day for the rest of this week.
The Scary Stories series is a collection of American folklore collected by Alvin Schwartz. This series holds a special place in my heart; I remember reading this collection as a child when it was originally published in 1981.
The first story I recall reading was The Big Toe, a story about a little boy who was digging in a garden, desperate to find something to eat. He finds a big toe and he rips it from the ground. As he does so, he hears a groan, so he scampers away. That night, his mother uses the toe in a soup and serves it for dinner. The family eats dinner and goes to bed, but the little boy is awakened in the middle of the night to a voice groaning “Where is my to-o-o-o-o-e?” He hears footsteps approaching as the voice continues to groan. He hides under the covers, certain that this is a dream. The footsteps get closer and closer…
Another favorite of mine is The Guests. A young couple is traveling to visit family. They got off to a late start and have to find a place to stay overnight. They come upon a small cabin in the woods and inquire a to whether the owners rent rooms. They do not, but the old couple residing there offter to let them stay overnight.
The next morning, the young couple awaken before the owners and decide to head out. They leave an envelope with money in it on the kitchen table, a small payment for the kind treatment they were given. They drive off to the next town to have breakfast. When they tell the owner where they stayed the night before, he insists that can’t be. That house burned to the gound and the couple that lived there died in the fire.
The young couple were certain there was a mistake. They got back in their car and drove back to the cabin. In the spot where the cabin existed the night before was a burned-out shell. They step inside and on the burned table they find the envelope they left that morning.
These are just two of the many excellent stories contained within this collection. These stories would be great to tell over a camp fire or late at night during a sleepover.
The illustrations really complement the stories. Here is an image taken from one of the covers:
Spooky, eh? Another plus to this book is the Sources portion in the back. In this section, Schwartz lists the sources of the stories contained within the collection. Some go back centuries!
Obviously, this book isn’t for the very young or children who tend to scare easily. However, there is a portion of the collection that would be appropriate for these children, for it contains humorous stories about ghosts and other things that go bump in the night.
Be sure to add this book to your Halloween reading line-up and support those books that have been banned!
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