Double Dare to be Scared: Another Thirteen Chilling Tales

Dare to Be Scared #2

by Robert D. San Souci

Thirteen scary stories for kids between ages 8-12 from Scholastic, by Robert Souci. Paperback book, 2006

Genres: Horror, Childrens, Paranormal, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies

170 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Robert Daniel San Souci (October 10, 1946 – December 19, 2014) was a multiple award-winning children's book author, who resided in San Francisco, California. He often worked with his brother, Daniel San Souci, a children's book illustrator. He was a consultant to Disney Studios and was instrumental in the production of the film Mulan, for which he wrote the story. He studied folklore in graduate school. He died after suffering a head injury while falling from a high height in San Francisco in December 2014. He was only 68 years old.

Reviews

[Austin Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent collection of creepy tales - I think I enjoy this second entry a bit more than the first, even - it's just banger after a banger of a story. This one has some truly terrifying moments for children's stories. Robert San Souci is an author that did not hold back, and some of these might be too much for the younger audience. Hell, some of these stories freak me out as an adult.

Campfire Tale - 3.5/5

Best Friends - 2.5/5

The Quilt - 4/5

Circus Dreams - 3.75/5

Rosalie - 3.75/5

Mountain Childers - 4/5

Class Cootie - 3.25/5

Half-past Midnight - 3.5/5

Laughter - 2.5/5

Click Clack - 3.5/5

Daddy Boogey - 3.75/5

Grey - 3.5/5

Gulp! - 3.25/5

Overall this book gets a 3.5, rounded up to a 4.

[Angie Gibby · Rating 1 out of 5]

Trash


Me and my reading group had to read this book......
IT WAS SO BORING!!!
The only good story was the first one!
It’s like the author gave up after writing the first story

[Loveliest Evaris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book back in 2004 when I was in around Middle School. Around 3rd or 4th grade I guess. I had the urge to find the book again but unfortunately couldn't. But just yesterday I had an epiphany: One of the stories in this book is "Mountain Childers" . And so that's how I recalled the name of this book! Yay me.

From what I can remember, this book is full of good dark stories, cruel irony, and enough coincidences and evil to make you shiver a little. The drawings depicting the story were creepy-cute sometimes (Class Cootie) and haunting/down right horrific in others (Half-Past Midnight). Some of the stories bored me at first from reading the title, but in the end I went back and read them all, and I'm glad I did. Each were entertaining without repeating or recycling anything, which is a must when you do a collection of short stories of any genre. The story telling was quick and the characters in each had their own little petty personalities to drive the story and to make it realistic in its own way. Recommend this book for people around 12 or 13 years old, but of course anyone can read an easy spooky compilation like this.

[Quinn Gibby · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was so boring only two good stories the rest were boring.

[Oliver Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think the best two books in the series are great, the third one had some good scares as well but the fourth one was where the series fell off for me
short synopsis and review of each story

campfire tale: a young boy hears a campfire tale from a friend and becomes paranoid that it's more than a story. 3 stars, I liked this one but it was a little generic

best friends: a young boy is worried when his friend starts acting strange, four stars, creepy as hell, the ending was sort of predictable but this one was good

the quilt: a girl picks out a strange quilt from a thrift store, unaware that she is setting forth a terrifying prophecy. 5 stars I like this one a lot, but maybe I'm biased because I like witches

circus dreams: a bullied young boy has his problems solved but there's a price to pay that may be too high. 3 stars, probably my least favorite of the bunch, ending was kind of flat and didnt make that much sense

rosalie: a girl notices her sister acting a bit weird and discovers a horrifying truth about her new "imaginary" friend. 5 stars, probably my favorite of the bunch I love this one, just a creepy little ghost story with a spine chilling ending.

Mountain Childers: a young boy gets a terrifying lesson about folklore. 4 stars, this one was weird but scary and I liked the weird aspect of it.

class cootie: a school of children gets a lesson in karma. 4 stars, again weird but pretty cool story.

half past midnight: a young girl can't stay out past midnight, her classmates are suspicious. I liked this one, sort of a twisted update of Cinderella, a little predictable but I'll give it 3 stars

laughter: a boy refuses to respect the traditions of his Irish grandmother, leading to a devilish ending, 3 stars, this one just wasn't creepy enough I think, I liked the ending but I wish there was more scare factor before the ending.

click clack: two boys venture into the woods late at night despite numerous warnings to stay away. 3 out of 5, I kinda liked this one but again I really wish there was more scare factor, nothing much happens until near the end and it was a bit too short.

daddy boogey: a boy visits his grandparents farm and gets the spooks from a scarecrow in the field.
4 stars. this was creepy and thrilling, I liked the ending a lot.

grey: two young girls and a teen boy are terrorized by an old movie monster. 5 stars, this one was great, not much to say other than it's one of the strongest of the bunch.

"gulp": a group of young boys explore a supposedly haunted house but a much worse fate awaits them. 5 stars, the twist is figure-outable if you're paying attention but this is still a very strong ender

[J]

I wanted to read spooky stories now that it's the spooky season, but I couldn't decide on a book to read so I ended up reading this book I read as a child. I'm not sure why I have the second book in this series and not the first, but I guess it was the only book available when I got it or when it was given to me. Anyway, it's difficult to say whether or not this book is good because I'm not the target audience anymore, but it must've been somewhat good if some of the stories in this book stuck with me since I was a child.

Now that I've read this as an adult, I will say that these stories aren't amazingly written but they seem written well enough for a child. The illustrations certainly helped with making the stories more memorable and a bit scarier. I will also say that these stories aren't necessarily scary but are actually kind of sad. Every child in every story gets in a horrible situation that they have no control over and end up with an overwhelming sense of helplessness. I guess that helplessness works in a horror book for children because I'm sure every child has felt it at some point in their lives. What's scarier than being a helpless child who can't help themselves and can't even get help from the adults who are supposed to protect them?

Before I rank the short stories in this book, like I do with every book of short stories, I want to give a special shout out to the short story "Mountain Childers." That story really fed into my childhood fear and fascination with cannibals and has haunted me ever since.

Stories Ranked

1. Mountain Childers
2. Best Friends
3. Circus Dreams
4. Gulp!
5. Daddy Boogey
6. Half-Past Midnight
7. The Quilt
8. Rosalie
9. Class Cootie
10. Click Clack
11. Laughter
12. Campfire Tale
13. Grey

(Ranking is subject to change)

[Maddie]

Learned my lesson with that last one and am now keeping track of all these children's books in case the need arises. Most of these stories are ridiculous, but some actually have a tiny disturbing seed of an idea that could grow into something pretty creepy if given the chance. The illustrations are doing most of the heavy lifting here though.

[Storyteller Ferguson · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an adult, I really enjoyed this short story collection and am eager to read more by the author. Mood setting is done well. The stories are spooky and eerie, but not gory or traumatizing. Just right for preteens.

[Stephen]

I found this book very good if your looking for a plot twist, I genuinely didn't see most of the ending coming, my personal favorite was the second story about the two best friends, I don't wanna spoil it but what I can say is it was a thrilling and very exciting piece of work, thank you

[Dominic Sedillo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to DNF this book because I had to return to the library.

It’s a fun anthology of short stories that aren’t as scary as “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” but do have a good creep factor.

I will likely return to finish it one day. Sorry kids.

[Fwdecker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this to my boys. Really fun & pretty well written for YA. Lots of fun!

[Just a Girl Fighting Censorship · Rating 3 out of 5]

An average collection of scary stories best for 3rd-5th graders.

[Marina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this when i was a kid. My sister read it for me. I used to be haunted by this book, as far as i remember.

[Camren Fletcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Q. What didn't you like about this book? Why?

A. Something that I didn't like about this book, was that some of the stories were REALLY BORING!! The third book of this series is a lot better, but this one was boring at some points. What I think he did was with some of the stories he just kind of let it drag on, and he could have used a little more creative word choice. He didn't go into as much detail as I would have liked with some things, and the stories were almost the same, plot wise. It didnt really make me jump or shutter, it just felt like I was strolling through my history book. I didn't really like it at most parts, but there were still the ones that were good. Although he had those good stories, I personally think that the boring stories out numbered the good ones. I dont really recommend this particular book in the series to you.

Q. What are some words that you would use to describe this book?

A. Some words I would use to describe Double Dare to be Scared, are boring, and dull. Like I said before it lost me with some things and I just sorta dosed off at points. I think that the author could have done better with his word choice and made it more... creative. I think that some of the stories wouldn't be able to scare a kindergartner. The details could have been better, and he could have gone into it more. This book isn't bad, but it's also not particularly good.

[Ashlei · Rating 3 out of 5]

Best Friends: Very short 3-4 minutes not very scary best friends forever, one dies and comes back for the other

The Quilt: Medium length 7-8 minutes Rebecca buys an old haunted quilt and helps to bring a coven of witches back from the dead

Circus Dreams: kids go to circus grounds, one finds a box buried and takes it home, it has in it a demon type monster who kills anyone it’s “owner” hates, turns on its owner when owner becomes hateful towards himself

****Rosalie: twins deal with a malicious ghost of dead girl in their house kinda scary, maybe 10 minutes in length

Mountain Childers: kinda scary about 10 minutes boy visits with an old couple and brings around the mountain childers who eat people when they are hungry, get the boy in the end

Class Cootie: can’t use cause they talk about no santa, easter bunny or tooth fairy, guess we could take that part out, probably not though as bullied kid dies and grandmother rains down killer cooties on all in the school

Half-past midnight: new girl in town turns into a werewolf and eats a bunch of people at a cast party

Laughter: the whole don’t laugh at the fairies deal, kid’s head falls off

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

My review for this book is that I realy enjoyed reading it. Another thing is that I liked reading this book because it is about different stories that are about scary stories. For example there is a storie about a boy who goes to a circus and finds a doll, but the doll makes him have wierd dreams. Then the boy has dreams about people that he knows getting killed, but when he wakes up it does come true. What I learned about this book is that you shouldn't get things that you don't know what they are or do.

[Salsabrarian]

In "Campfire Tale," an obnoxious friend of Michael's father teases him on a camping trip with stories about the Stalker who literally frightens campers to death. Rebecca buys an unusual quilt which ends up welcoming her into a coven of witches in "The Quilt." Billy digs up a horrible-looking doll not knowing the doll has the ability to kill people you hate in "Circus Dreams." In "Class Cootie," the school outcast finds his only haven with his loving Nana Olga who, when he dies in an accident, vengefully wreaks havoc on the school with a massive swarm of insects.

[Asia Ludwig · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this book and I can't wait to read the third book. This book is kinda a combination of scary and horror. I would recomend this book to everyone that likes reading these kinds of books. Anyways my favorite story is when the kids go to the circus and a kid finds a metal box. I hope other people like this book as much as I did! If you do like this book then you should tell me what part you liked the most. So enjoy and have fun reading this book!

[Brenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the GOOD scary books I read. I have most of the collection of them. Some scary books could be read and not even be able to finish that they're sooooo boring, but these, these books are some greatly scary tales. They all gave me some kind of dream. BestFriends was a good one. I think the MountainChilders was pretty good too.

[Kaitlin Minster · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is kinda creepy but I think its cool. All of the thirteen short stories are chilling and awesome at the same time.I only didn't like Mountain Childers it was way to creepy. If you read this book you know why. Ewww... just thinking about gives me the jitters. But if you like chilling and short stories this is a good book for you. I really enjoy short and chilling stories.

[Daniella · Rating 5 out of 5]

so far pretty good the creepiest so far is the "BestFriends" story

[Nan Sprester · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of thirteen original scary stories witten by the author. Okay book for 3-5th graders. Not too scary, just annoying because the main character in each story dies.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

classroom library book - actually a few creepy stories, some a little juvenile (but it is meant for 8th graders) the drawings were REALLY creepy

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was really good. I liked it so much that i've read it like 3 times!
It was really, really, really good.

[Ingrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

riveting. i read and finished on day one. first through 7 mysteries my favorite. the last 6 entailing thrillers didn't jump me at my feet. they made me thirst more. well done author.

[Aiesha Anchan]

This gets even better!

[David Scavuzzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good in my opinion. I am looking forward to reading the first and third books.

[Mallory · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but it was a tad bit childish and the stories just weren't scary in my opinion. All in all I think that it was just an okay book.

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are eerie and some even a bit disturbing, but then again I have always enjoyed that a bit.

[Jazelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is surprisingly creepy (in a good way)!