{"id":2202,"date":"2021-02-01T18:01:25","date_gmt":"2021-02-01T23:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/?p=2202"},"modified":"2021-01-03T18:50:25","modified_gmt":"2021-01-03T23:50:25","slug":"book-review-dont-turn-out-the-lights-a-tribute-to-alvin-schwartzs-scary-stories-to-tell-in-the-dark-edited-by-jonathan-maberry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/?p=2202","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Don\u2019t Turn Out the Lights: A Tribute to Alvin Schwartz\u2019s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark edited by Jonathan Maberry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cover<\/a>\u00a0**Cross Posted from the Circulation Desk**<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(\u00a0Bookshop.org<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Amazon.com<\/a>\u00a0)<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Turn Out the Lights: A Tribute to Alvin Schwartz\u2019s Scary Stories to Tell in the<\/em>\u00a0Dark edited by Jonathan Maberry<\/p>\n

HarperCollins, 2020<\/p>\n

ISBN-13 : 978-0062877673<\/p>\n

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Turn Out the Lights<\/em>\u00a0is an anthology of stories by a variety of diverse horror writers, mostly of YA horror, inspired mainly by their nostalgia over Alvin Schwartz\u2019s notable collections of urban legends and folktales,\u00a0Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark<\/em>\u00a0(writers include Linda Addison, Amy Lukavics, Courtney Alameda, Tannarive Due, Kami Garcia, and R.L. Stine). Schwartz\u2019s writing was spare, providing just the bare bones of the stories he shared, and Stephen Gammell provided terrifying black-and-white pen and pencil drawings to accompany each one It is unfortunate that the artist for the book is not credited, so far as I can tell. Nobody can be Stephen Gammell, but the interior illustrations suggest the artist studied his style. The artwork is outstanding and integrates well into the design of the book and the storytelling.<\/p>\n

Unlike Schwartz\u2019s collections, there aren\u2019t a lot of jump-scares or gruesome rhymes: these are tribute stories rather than an attempt to recreate his work. As expected in a collection of 35 stories, each by a different author, some are better than others. Some stories stick closer to Schwartz\u2019s style and choice of subject, with the feeling of a folktale, such as T.J. Wooldridge\u2019s \u201cThe Skelly-Horse\u201d, or \u201cJingle Jangle\u201d, while others, like \u201cThe Funeral Portrait\u201d were more reminiscent of Poe. A few manage to stick to the urban legend feel of the original while updating it for tweens today, like \u201cTag, You\u2019re It,\u201d by N.R. Lambert, which plays on social media anxieties, and \u201cThe House on the Hill\u201d, which brings mystery emails and cell phones into play in a tale of peer pressure and surveillance in a haunted house. \u201cThe Neighbor\u201d managed the fine line of evoking Schwartz\u2019s tales in a contemporary context beautifully. Editor Jonathan Maberry\u2019s introductory essay was very interesting, as he did not grow up with the stories but read them as an adult.<\/p>\n

One of this book\u2019s greatest faults is its length. The original\u00a0Scary Stories<\/em>\u00a0books were relatively short in length, with plenty of white space and relatively large print on each page. Stories were usually very short and heavily illustrated.\u00a0Don\u2019t Turn Out the Lights<\/em>\u00a0is over 400 pages long, with most stories obviously intended to be read on the page instead of told at a campfire.\u00a0 While the\u00a0Scary Stories\u00a0<\/em>books are read by kids as young as third grade, the length of the book and of the stories suggests to me that\u00a0Don\u2019t Turn Out the Lights<\/em>\u00a0is aimed at a slightly older audience of tweens and middle-schoolers, and also the adult audience feeling the same kind of nostalgia for the\u00a0Scary Stories\u00a0<\/em>books that the authors did. Recommended for grades 4+.<\/p>\n

Contains: gore, violence, body horror, murder<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

NetGalley temporarily provided a review copy of this book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0**Cross Posted from the Circulation Desk**   (\u00a0Bookshop.org\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Amazon.com\u00a0) Don\u2019t Turn Out the Lights: A Tribute to Alvin Schwartz\u2019s Scary Stories to Tell in the\u00a0Dark edited by Jonathan Maberry HarperCollins, 2020 ISBN-13 : 978-0062877673 Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook   Don\u2019t Turn Out the Lights\u00a0is an anthology of stories by a variety of diverse […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18,119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-horror"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Eu9f-zw","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2202"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2204,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2202\/revisions\/2204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}