Please Do Not Touch: A Collection of Stories

by Judith Gorog

A nearby gallery highlights strange exhibits that warn visitors to look and not touch, and eleven violators are in for a creepy time as they are transported to strange and eerie locations. Reprint.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Childrens

131 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Born in 1938 in Madison, Wisconsin, Judith Gorog grew up in Pennsylvania, Texas, and California before moving with her mother and stepfather to Wiesbaden, Germany, where she attended an American Air Force high school. After the suburbs, Gorog loved living in a European city, and spent her time exploring the beautiful streets, visiting coffeehouses, and taking horseback-riding lessons. In addition to the local culture, there was an American library with thousands of books in English for her to read. Gorog returned to the United States for college, attending San Jose State College and graduating from the University of California at Berkeley in 1961. She received her master's degree from Mills College in 1963.

After working for many years as an editor and technical writer, Gorog published her first children's book, A Taste for Quiet and Other Disquieting Tales, in 1982. Since then she has made a name for herself with her “spooky” stories and has published novels and picture books in addition to collections. Gorog and her Hungarian-born husband lived in Italy for a year, and have traveled to Peru, Japan, and Hungary. They have three children and a number of pets. Gorog speaks German, French, Italian, and Hungarian as well as English. When she is not writing, she counts among her many interests cooking, skiing, hiking, swimming, people-watching, and visiting hardware stores.

Reviews

[Bunni Grey · Rating 4 out of 5]

mmmm another obscurity to add to my collection.
i regret giving this book away, need to find it again.
the vampire story was the spookiest, imo. i would be freaked out too if i kept finding hair and nails in my food. eugh
this book is very much like Goosebumps but more abstract. also Gorog is cool last name.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought-provoking, well written, but not TOO scary, perfect for young readers and storytellers.

[Adriane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a super cute book, I would have absolutely devoured this as a kid or a tween. Now that I've read actual horror it seems really mild, but is still compelling enough to finish quickly. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has kids who like weird tales. They aren't especially scary but they are weird. If your kid is a little skittish start with a book like this opposed to Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, not that those stories are much scarier, but the illustrations will stay with them forever.

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really don't touch the art in this gallery, or else your be sucked into the art's story, go on adventures with the artist, by being a by standard or simply a fly on the wall! I liked this book a lot it was fun to read and very entertaining! I recommend this book to 4th, 5th, and 6th graders!