Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

If you were a child of the 90's, you probably remember School Book Fairs.  Twice a year, the school librarian would work with the Scholastic Corporation to bring students a large book sale during school hours. As a young bibliophile, I LOVED it and would always save up all my allowance to buy new books when the book fair rolled around. It was at one of these fairs that I discovered Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.  

The stories were pretty decent, but what STILL haunts me are the wonderful illustrations by Stephen Gammell. Mr. Gammell won the Caldecott Medal in 1989 for another (less frightening) children's book. But he'll always be remembered by me, and a host of other kids, for the emotional scars the drawing in these books left on us.  

The above picture is one of my favorites.  It is from a story about an elderly couple who adopts a hairless dog in Mexico only to discover upon smuggling the animal back to the United States that it is, in fact, an overgrown sewer rat.  Many of the stories deal with this sort of urban legend.  Alvin Schwartz was a renowned folklorist who wanted to expose kids to these sorts of creepy stories.  Working with Stephen Gammell helped make the stories both memorable and terrifying. 

Some of the stories Mr. Schwartz created himself. 'Harold' is one of my favorites and was based on the story of a scarecrow that comes to life. The story and drawing that accompanied it still makes chills run down my spine! 

I've still got my own copies of these classics from middle school. They're fairly easy to find on Amazon or in used book stores. I highly recommend them! 

Happy Halloween, everybody! 

Recommended links: 

Wikipedia Article on Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

YouTube Video Narration of many of the stories