Spooky Story Books
These five creepy collections will continue to amuse your family for years to come.
By Mireille Hyde
- In a Dark, Dark Room
- By Alvin Swartz
Illustrated by Dirk Zimmer - HarperCollins, $4
Recommended for children as young as 5, this simple collection of seven traditional tales inspires obsessive re-reading. It's spooky enough make your kids shriek with delight.
- Ask the Bones
- Edited by Arielle North Olson and Howard Schwartz
Illustrated by David Linn - Puffin Books, $6
The spare retellings of international folktales in Ask the Bones are digestible but still contain delicious dark details. The stories were adapted from countries including Russia, Japan, Mexico, and Iceland.
- Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark
- By Alvin Schwartz
Illustrated by Stephen Gammell - HarperCollins, $6
Perhaps the most frightening book in the bunch, this collection is a favorite among middle-schoolers. Schwartz's rewritten findings from American folklore are short and definitely haunting.
- Roald Dahl's Book Of Ghost Stories
- By Roald Dahl
- The Noonday Press, $11
Dahl carefully selected these 14 stories after reading through a staggering 749. While too dense for young readers, this chilling literary anthology will captivate an older child - or even her parents.
- The Gashlycrumb Tinies
- By Edward Gorey
- Harcourt Trade, $9
Don't be fooled by the picture book format; Gorey's witty, sinister ABCs of mortality aren't for young children. You, however, will be charmed by the 26 creative demises and the eerie, strangely endearing line drawings.
