Horror Hour: Nightmare Hour and The Haunting Hour

by R.L. Stine

In this collection of spine-tingling horror, read about a baby sitter who loves evil tricks; a boy who dared to lie down in an ancient mummy case; a ghost who wants your skin; and many more too frightening to describe.

Twenty terrifying tales that will haunt you forever from the master story teller R.L. Stine.

Genres: Horror, Middle Grade, Young Adult

153 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Robert Lawrence Stine known as R. L. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American novelist and writer, well known for targeting younger audiences. Stine, who is often called the Stephen King of children's literature, is the author of dozens of popular horror fiction novellas, including the books in the Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room and Fear Street series.

R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.

Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.

http://us.macmillan.com/itsthefirstda...

Reviews

[Austin Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ratings for each of the 20 stories in this collection:

Pumpkinhead: 2.5 / 5

Alien Candy: 2.5 / 5

Most Evil Sorcerer: 2 / 5
(Interesting concept, as Stine tackles the fantasy genre, but story doesn't do much for me)

Nightmare Inn: 4 / 5
Probably my favorite story in the entire collection. It has werewolves. Need I say more?

I'm Not Martin: 4 / 5
This one feels derivative of a classic folktale. Not great, but an awesome twist and makes a good campfire-type story.

The Black Mask: 3.5 / 5

Afraid of Clowns: 2 / 5

The Dead Body: 2.5 / 5
This one has some darker stuff in it but the ending ruins it.

Make Me A Witch: 3.5 / 5
The story itself has a decent idea but execution isn't the best. What stands out to me the most is actually the artwork for this one. This story has my favorite illustration in the entire book.

The Ghostly Stare: 2 / 5
Generic ghost story with predictable twist.

(These next ten stories are the 2nd part of the book / The Haunting Hour)

The Halloween Dance: 2.5 / 5

The Bad Babysitter: 2.5 / 5

Revenge of the Snowman: 2 / 5
This one is really short, only 3 or 4 pages, and serves up a little bit of laughter with the twist ending. That's pretty much all this one has to offer.

How To Bargain With a Dragon: 4 / 5
A sequel to the Most Evil Sorcerer... this one is actually more interesting and I quite enjoyed it.

The Mummy's Dream: 2 / 5

Are We There Yet?: 3 / 5
This one has me conflicted. Some interesting ideas and deeper themes at play, yet it plays it safe and stays on the shallow end of the pool, metaphorically speaking. Still, it's a bit interesting.

Take Me With You: 1 / 5
The most boring, dull, and cliche story in this book.

My Imaginary Friend: 2.5 / 5
Okay, but extremely predictable.

Losers: 3 / 5
This one has some kinda darker/heavier stuff in it while conveying a moral/message. Entertaining but not wholly satisfying.

Can You Draw Me?: 3 / 5
No, no I can't. A mediocre finale to a mediocre book.

Overall this collection of stories by Stine is just... okay. A few good ones, a few bad ones, and the majority are just meh. I think the best part of this book are all of the really cool illustrations. Make Me A Witch is definitely my favorite.
I recommend this to fellow Stine fans - others won't be missing out on much by skipping this one.
I personally prefer the Tales to Give You Goosebumps series for my go-to short stories by Stine.

[Katiepertee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book definitely lives up to the show, the thrill and suspense are at equal levels and i’ll say some of the stories in this book had me on the edge of my seat. This is one of those books where you think you know what’s happening and have it all figured out but they it takes a complete 180, would definitely recommend to people who grew up on stine.

[Matthew Todd]

This book was pretty good. It had some scary stories but not all of them. The book did not really scary me that much or make me feel scared but there where parts where you thought they were going to get scary and they did just not as scary as you thought.

[Patricia Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I definitely loved this book! I am a big fan of R.L. Stine & the Goosebumps series. Some of the stories reminded me of when I would read the Goosebumps books but there was a little more darkness to these stories!

[Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a very suprising book I would say 5 stars

[Drew F · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was awsome .it was creepy but not scary.

[Hannah Denton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Real rating: 3.5 stars
Most of the stories I enjoyed, but a few of them seemed too heart-felt to be scary. The scare level I would probably say is like 4/10. Overall though, it was a quick and fun read.

[Kaitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember LOVING this book as a kid. Some of the stories stuck with me and still freak me out.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as a preteen and loved every second of it.

[Archer Aguilar]

Loved the story "The Black Mask".

[Sebastian Cruz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very scaring and bone chilling book that kept me up at nights thinking that something was going to drag me from under my dead and eat me. This book consists of many different horrifying stories that will have you stay away from the dark and make you unable to be alone. These stories consist of many different scary individuals such as skeletons and scarecrows. I recommend this book to reads who like a good scare and like a story that can actually scare you and not just make you say sarcastically "ooh! thats so scary...."

[Katy Larserfam · Rating 5 out of 5]

crepy

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was very good, liked the stories, a quick read, but good :)

[Litzy Cisneros · Rating 5 out of 5]

[TIPHANIE · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it!