Review: More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (August 24, 2010)
• ISBN-10: 0060835214
• Source: Personal copy

Yesterday, I reviewed Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, a collection of folklore collected by Alvin Schwartz. More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a continuation of this series. 

As in the first book, Schwartz has collected a wide range of scary stories from all over the country, spanning decades.  Following is a scary story that also teaches a great lesson:

The Drum: Two sisters, Dolores and Sandra, were playing in a field close to the country home in which their family lived.  They come across a gypsy girl playing a drum.  The sisters begged the little girl to let them play with the drum; they were fascinated with the little mechanical man and woman that came out of the drum & danced. The gypsy girl promised to give the sisters the drum, but only if they were really, really bad. 

So the sisters go home and began to do everything they could think of to upset their mother: coloring on the walls, spilling their food, and refusing to go to bed at bedtime.

The next morning, they ran to the gypsy girl and told them what they’d done.  She insisted that they needed to be much more horrible than that, so back home they trudged. That night, their behavior was worse than the previous night. Their mother was outraged, insisting if they didn’t stop, she would take their younger brother and leave them, replaced by a mother with glass eyes and a wooden tale.

The sisters really wanted that drum, so when they were told by the gypsy girl that their behavior wasn’t bad enough, they got worse.  They tore their clothes, spanked their baby brother.  They returned to the gypsy girl and were told that they behavior still wasn’t bad enough.

But when they returned home, their mother & brother were gone.  They assumed she was out shopping, until they spotted their new mother, with her glass eyes and wooden tail!

What’s the lesson? Always listen to your parents!

As in the previous book, Schwartz includes the sources to each of the stories.  While this second book is not quite as scary as the first it is still quite enjoyable!  So, if perhaps the first Scary Stories was too scary for you, perhaps this second book will be the perfect fit!

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