Scary Stories Trilogy by Alvin Schwartz: Book Review

In the spirit of Halloween, I decided to read some of my favorite spooky books when I was a kid. I thought I would share some of these with you in preparation of the spookiest time of year! :)

Author: Alvin Schwartz
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: 1980s
Number of Pages: ~100 pages each
Series Notes: 3 books
Reason for Discovery: Scholastic catalog from school (remember those tissue papery order forms?)

My favorite set of books was the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series by Alvin Schwartz. I remember that some of the stories were funny, some were perfect for telling to a crowd (you get to grab someone and yell boo!), and some just really scared me. My imagination was a little bit overactive. I reread books one and three over the last week, because my library had them. I must say that they stand up against the test of time. Some of the stories were funny, some were still perfect for group storytelling, and some made me want to double check that there was nothing in my closet! Yes, my imagination is still a bit overactive.

For those of you who grew up with this series too. A year or so ago, the books were re-published with a different illustrator! Luckily, my library's copies were from the original publication. As a kid, I couldn't even look at some of the pictures, because they scared me so much! Stephen Gammell is the illustrator you want. Well, I haven't seen the new illustrations, so they might be scary, but Stephen Gammell's were really scary, so I can't imagine the new illustrator's pictures are better. Yes, I am a fuddy duddy, and I am okay with that. :)

As an adult, I noticed something fantastic about this series. I didn't realize that these stories were folktales that Schwartz had collected. At the back of the books, he has notes on the stories, including many of their origins, and references. I found these notes to be really enlightening. It was neat to learn how old some of these tales really are.

I have to give this series 5 out of 5 ghosts!


8 comments:

Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer said...
October 14, 2013 at 2:58 PM

I loved folklore and can remember reading some of these around a campfire with my girls, brings back memories.

Unknown said...
October 14, 2013 at 4:42 PM

Rereading these stories definitely opened the floodgates to memories of telling ghost stories with my friends.

Berls said...
October 14, 2013 at 11:27 PM

How fun digging up stories you enjoyed as a kid! I haven't actually read any of these either - will have to check them out :-)

Tabitha (Pabkins) said...
October 15, 2013 at 11:43 AM

OH my goodness! I freaking LOVED these books when I was a kid! We used to use them for parties too when we wanted to do scary things and read scary stories. You're bringing back the memories!

Unknown said...
October 15, 2013 at 10:09 PM

You will recognize at least a couple of the stories. There are a lot of classics in them.

Unknown said...
October 15, 2013 at 10:10 PM

I went down memory lane rereading these books. One of the pictures really scared me as a kid, and I would cover the page with my hand! Now, the picture isn't as scary, but the stories are still great.

ErinPaperbackstash said...
October 20, 2013 at 4:04 AM

I remember reading and loving this as a kid!

Unknown said...
October 21, 2013 at 11:47 PM

These books aged really well. You will still enjoy them now! :)

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