Module 15: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Module 15: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Summary: A collection of wonderfully spooky stories. From ghostly elderly couples to a Viper, each story has a new and creepy factor.

Citation: Schwartz, A. (1981). Scary stories to tell in the dark. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.

Impression: My favorite is the Viper in which a woman gets a call from a mysterious, creepy voiced man calling himself the Viper. The man says he is coming to her, and as he calls he gets closer and closer to the woman’s dismay. I have always loved scary stories, and I think these stories are a nice combination of creepiness and quirkiness. They are not so scary as to be inappropriate for middle school students. The stories use grotesque illustrations to enhance the readers fear, and most stories play on fear of the supernatural. Ghosts and walking corpses give readers goosebumps without leaving weeks of nightmares or future phobias.

Review: 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.

J. (2010). Review: Scary stories to tell in the dark by Alvin Schwartz. Jenn’s Bookshelves.            Retrieved from http://www.jennsbookshelves.com/2010/09/29/review-scary-stories-to-tell-in-the-dark-by-alvin-schwartz/

Suggestion: This would be a fun book to show to 6^th to 8^th graders as either a short story collection or for Halloween book talks.