Home » Posts tagged "scary stories for kids" (Page 10)

Help A Reader Out: Short Giant?

Andrea wrote:

I am looking for a book that I lost a few years ago that I used to love to read. It was a book of complete of short stories from around the world and it was for children. I know that 2 of the words that are in the title are Giant and Short (giant was in red and short was in yellow). The cover had a combination of witches, vampires, zombies, tombstones, and children on the cover. It was dark blue and black to help give off the “scary book” feel. I hope you can help me find this book.

ETA: Andrea found the book herself. It is called Giant, Short, and Shivery, and is one of many collections assembled by Robert D. San Souci. Published in 1998, it is now out of print, but maybe you can find a copy at your library. If you don’t see that particular collection you might try More Short and Shivery and Even More Short and Shivery, available both in print and ebook format. San Souci has several other scary story collections, and also has written many picture books, mainly based on folktales and fairy tales, that would be appropriate for even children who don’t care for shivers down the spine.

Thanks, Andrea!

Posted on September 19, 2012 by , Reply

Some Interesting News From R.L. Stine

This year marks the 20th anniversary for the Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine.  In the world of children’s books, he is the author most adults think of when they think of “children’s horror”, if they think of “children’s horror” at all. I was in college when Stine started writing, so I missed the beginning of the craze over Stine’s books, but by 1997 I was working in my first “real job” as a children’s librarian. The demand for his books in 1997 was tremendous– I can’t remember how many times I walked kids over to the paperback spinners or sorted through beat up copies with a kid who was looking for one he hadn’t read. It must have been absolutely overwhelming when the books first came out. It’s hard to imagine that you could have missed out on it, if you were s a kid or worked with kids and books at all in the past 20 years.

Stine didn’t start out trying to be scary. He ran a humor magazine called Bananas for ten years (here’s an interview where he talks about that and a lot of other cool stuff) and joke books for kids. But then, according to this interview in the Boston Phoenix, he realized that “what kids really want is to be scared shitless”. And he’s been writing scary stories for kids ever since. Frequently. At one time he produced a book every month!

This fall, though, Stine’s second horror novel for adults, Red Rain, will be released, and in an interview with Publishers Weekly he said that it’s been a challenge for him, after writing middle-grade fiction for kids for so many years,

The kids’ stuff comes naturally to me now. When I write horror for kids, I have to make sure that they know it’s not real—that it’s pure fantasy and could never happen. Writing for adults, I have to do exactly the opposite. It has to be real or they won’t buy it. It was fun to turn it around in Red Rain and have the chance to be really horrifying. Some really ghastly things happen in this book!”

Stine also has a television show based on his books on The Hub right now, which has been renewed for the fall season. It’s the third television series to be based on his books– pretty neat stuff!

So… exciting news, if you didn’t already know it (you might have, since most of these interviews took place at least a couple of months ago, he’s active on Twitter, and he was recently at BEA). If you grew up with R.L. Stine, you might be buying his books for your kids, and now he’s produced a “grown-up” one for the kids who grew up reading his books. If you remember Goosebumps fondly, or even if you’re just curious, now is a great time to see what he has cooking!

Posted on August 12, 2012 by , Reply

Monster Kid Request: Move Over, Judy Moody!

If you are a children’s librarian, or a school librarian, or anyone who works with upper elementary aged kids, you are probably familiar with Judy Moody. Judy Moody is one of the less annoying protagonists that appear in series books targeted to girls. She isn’t concerned with looks or popularity, she wants to be a doctor, and her concerns go beyond the superficial. I find her annoying anyway. She rolls her eyes and says “boring” a lot, and she’s not very nice to her younger brother, who she’s nicknamed Stink.

But Stink is now coming into his own. He has his own series of books, with witty cartoons (supposedly drawn by him) and fun stories that even manage to sneak in a little learning. These books are aimed at kids who are a little younger, and my kids, who are 4 and 6,  will sit and listen to me read a Stink book for over an hour. I can’t say I like everything about the books, but they are enjoyable and funny without having nearly as much name calling or gross humor as some other books aimed at kids this age.

What’s really interesting to me, though, is that the Stink Moody website has zoomed in on one particular book (that I haven’t read) and created a whole event kit around the theme. The book is Stink and the Midnight Zombie Walk and the event is… wait for it… Reading Is Undead. The kit even ties in last summer’s movie, Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer, which, in addition to Stink’s extensive hunt for the elusive Bigfoot (which resulted in some pretty fun movie tie-in books that we do own, due to the Monster Kid’s obsession with Bigfoot and other cryptids) also has a fairly memorable zombie scene. Now, the Monster Kid is not allowed to watch zombie movies, and we try to tone the whole zombie thing down here, but there it is- another kid his age who gets into monsters, at probably the most age appropriate and non-gory way possible (yes, you may laugh at me now).

I think Stink and his friends could appeal to both girls and boys, especially because of the Judy Moody connection (the series is very popular) but, given how many books are already in the series and how many themes they address, I think it’s crazy fun that Candlewick Press is promoting reading, and the Stink Moody books, with cryptids and zombies. There are so many ways to get kids to read using this promotion, I encourage you to check it out, as well as the other Stink Moody books and resources, available here.

Posted on June 20, 2012 by , 3 comments
First « 7891011 » Last