Grandpas Ghost Stories

Grandpa

by James Flora

Grandpa's Ghost Stories

Genres: Picture Books, Horror, Childrens, Halloween, Monsters, Ghost Stories

32 pages, Unbound

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic illustrations paired with creepy yet humorous text make this a super fun read. Just the right level of spooky and scary for younger readers, and humorous enough for adult readers to enjoy as well.

[Shai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grandpa's Ghost Stories was first published on late 1978; it's not your typical children's book that contains cute story and adorable illustrations. This book is more appropriate for kids ages from 9 and and up as they can already processed these kind of ghastly tales.



There are three stories in this book: The Bag of Old Bones, The Cave of the Warty Witch, and The House of Ghastly Ghost. I consider the last story the best and the most horrifying that will scare kids out of their wits.



Thanks to Feral House for the reading copy of this book.

[La loca de los libros · Rating 5 out of 5]

Se lleva la máxima puntuación porque así lo ha querido la mayor 😄 Pero en mi opinión con 4⭐ va bien 👌

Maravilloso cuento con su punto de miedo y humor, ideal para leer en esta época 🎃👻 con los más peques de la casa ya que aúna muy bien ese punto de terror gracioso que tanto gusta a los niños/as más valientes.
Desconocía de su existencia pero vi que King lo recomendaba en la faja publicitaria y no se equivocaba, ¡lo hemos disfrutado muchísimo!

En total son tres historias entrelazadas:

💀 "El saco de huesos viejos."
💀 "La cueva de la bruja verruga."
💀 "La casa del fantasma del terror."

La tempestad azota en el exterior, es el momento ideal para escuchar historias de miedo en el regazo del abuelo, ¿no?
Tres historias que nos vendrán contadas por el propio abuelo cuando era solo un niño. Esqueletos que cobran vida, brujas horribles, arañas peludas, y fantasmas desolados entre otros ingredientes es lo que nos podemos encontrar en este divertido y macabro cuento que les traigo hoy. Espero que les guste y puedan disfrutar de noches terroríficas en familia 😍

💜🔝Lo he leído con las niñas en un par de noches, la peque es muy peque aún para entender según qué historias pero me encanta las preguntas que hace y las caras que pone viendo las ilustraciones, y la mayor disfruta muchísimo con este tipo de historias, poder disfrutar juntas de estos ratitos que nos da la literatura es algo mágico.

Cuéntenme en comentarios si conocen más libros del estilo, con ilustraciones inquietantes y una trama con su punto justo de terror para leer a edades tempranas 😊 ¡Los leo!

Muchas gracias, ¡y hasta la próxima reseña!

📚 https://www.facebook.com/LaLocadelosL... 📚

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young boy sits on his grandpa's knee during a terrible thunderstorm, listening to his grandfather's tales of his ghastly adventures when he too was a boy. In The Bag of Old Bones, a young Grandpa finds himself in a deserted shack in the middle of the woods one stormy night, and ends up opening the dusty sack in the corner. Finding a disassembled talking skeleton, he complies with its request to reassemble the bones, only to flee when it threatens to eat him. In The Cave of the Warty Witch, Grandpa takes refuge in the cave of an evil witch, while fleeing from the skeleton. Transformed into a spider, he must weave a web for his magical captor, but keeps his wits about him and steals the witch's wish-giving bone in order to restore his own human form. No sooner escaped from the witch, he finds himself captured by the disembodied hand in The House of the Ghastly Ghost, and is eventually swallowed by a werewolf. Thankfully, he still has the wishing-bone, and manages to free himself...

Originally published in 1978, Grandpa's Ghost Stories is a book that would have been around during my own childhood. Despite that fact, I never happened upon it as a girl, nor was I familiar with author/illustrator James Flora. That's a shame, as I suspect this would have been a favorite, right up there with Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark ! The narrative here is involving, each episode building to a fever pitch of excitement as the hero escapes, and then catapults headlong into the next dangerous situation. It is a well-written book, full of spooky thrills and horrifying monsters, but also full of sly humor. The scene in which young Grandpa is forced to watch ghost TV (Channel 4½!), was hilarious! The accompanying artwork is deliciously creepy, building the sense of menace and horror, but also giving frequent nods to the somewhat surreal sense of humor. I enjoyed this one immensely, and can see it making a wonderful read for young children who enjoy truly scary stories. For myself, I am glad to have discovered Flora's work, and intend to seek out more of it.

[Melki · Rating 5 out of 5]

One young boy travels from the frying pan to the fire as his spooky adventures entangle him with ever-eerier creepy creatures. If you're a fan of Flora's artwork, this one's a humdinger!

[Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my earliest childhood memories of Halloween involved attending a Halloween party for kids held at the house of some of my parent's friends who I don't recall (and they too have no memory of who they could be, or when this actually took place). I was taken into a basement with a lot of other children who I didn't know and a man read this really odd, creepy story about a kid lost in the woods who saw a lot of things "too terrible to tell," including a dancing skeleton, a witch who turned children into spider creatures, and a ghost who enjoyed watching TV. The story was illustrated with wonderful, cartoonish, evocatively detailed pictures. Along the edges of the events, all sorts of stuff was going on; evil eyes peered out of the darkness, weird little creatures romped and devoured each other, each page seemed to have a million things going on. It was both really creepy and also really funny, in a way that kind of complimented each other.

Though I can't remember anything else about that night, the story stuck with me and these weird images of a story night, old cabins with sacks of bones, huge werewolves, and all sorts of bizarre, grotesque creatures running around became synonymous with Halloween. A few years later, this also became the favorite holiday read of our resident wonderful elementary school librarian and its place was set. Of course, as the years went by, though I still recalled the delicious chills and spooky laughs delivered by being read the book, I could not remember what it was called and it faded into the background of my Halloween subconscious.

Recently, though, through the magic of the internet, I thought, hey, why not look that book up? So I googled spooky Halloween book with skeleton and "Grandpa's Ghost Stories," popped up right away. Awesome, a quick ILL later and I had it again, the memories came pouring back, and it still does not lack its funny, spooky, almost subversive picture book fun. Written and illustrated by James Flora, best known for designing the covers of jazz albums during the 1950s, Flora's idiosyncratic drawing seems very suited to this spooky tale. Flora packs within its 30 pages three horrible but good natured adventures, amazing lush ink-work, and tons of eerie style. Still a perfect picture book for kids and adults alike, though the only problem is that it is long out of print and seems to average around $100 used on Amazon. Fortunately, there is a very nice adaptation available on Youtube here! Definitely worth checking out if one is unable to get a copy of this nostalgic Halloween treat.

[Sandra Uv · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5

Los dibujos son una pasada pero se me ha hecho muy corto.

[Shane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I still have my copy of this book from 1978. The pages are yellowed and beginning to tear, but I still open it and give it a read every year or two. That Ghastly Ghost scared the crap out of me when I was five. I cannot tell you what a fantastic, original, creepy yet humorous book this was to me as a child. I highly recommend it to anyone, not just kids. Think I'll read it to my own young'uns this Halloween...

[Emmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, where do I start with this one? Grandpa's Ghost Stories was one of my all-time favorite books when I was a kid. I checked out the school library's copy constantly. And so did almost all of my classmates and the other kids in the school. In fact, it was so popular that only the fastest students could get their hands on it.

When I finally decided to get a copy for myself, I discovered that not only was this book out of print, but used copies were horribly expensive. At one point, I saw books going for as much as $1000, and the cheapest around $700. Then, just when I had given up hope, I discovered that they were reprinting this classic--and I pre-ordered my copy.

While not as scary as I remembered it being (I was considerably younger, after all!), I still found this book to be fun and enjoyable. The stories were tantalizingly eerie, and Grandpa's storytelling style not only draws in his grandson, but the reader as well. This is a perfect story collection for Halloween, and is a lot of fun to read out loud.

I've requested a few more of James Flora's books from the library, and I can't wait to hear more tales from the master!

[Melanie Dulaney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author James Flora gives us a collection of scary vignettes tied together using a grandfather telling his grandson about some of his early in life scary moments. The witches and assorted ghouls in this quick read are varied, fairly creepy and wonderfully illustrated, but the book would probably not be labeled as "scary" by my 4th and 5th grade library patrons. However, I do think that my readers of scary, horror and the like will enjoy this one...they just won't have to leave the light on after finishing it. Target audience for this one is likely 4th-7th grade. (Review of digital ARC from Edelweiss Above the Treeline)

[Jeff Lewonczyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

A favorite from childhood that was finally republished a few years back, which I pick up every few years. I had no idea who was behind it until Flora's illustration and album art came back into the spotlight about 20 years ago, after which I couldn't wait to get this back in my hands. It's a true nightmare for kids - nothing especially gentle or consoling about it, except for the knowledge that Grandpa obviously survived to tell the tale (though it didn't even strike me until adulthood that Grandpa was probably making the whole thing up). But the narrative bleakness is more than matched by the imaginative richness of the visuals, where every corner is teeming with a weird, wonderful Bosch-like beasties. The dancing skeleton, the TV-obsessed ghost, the diagram of the inside of the hell-hound's stomach... oh, I can't get enough!

[Saturnq · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of books I used to check out compulsively in childhood. When this came up in my "New Books" feed I was like "whaat? This book is super old!". Turns out I wasn't the only kid to fall in love with this dark, zanny, spooky tale. This is a new reprint with an introduction about the author, which it turns out was a pretty interesting character himself. After twenty-plus years, I recognized the cover but couldn't recall the story until I found a copy of this new edition from my local library. As soon as I turned to the page where the young boy finds "a bag of bones in an old shack" it was like I was back in my musty-smelling library of my childhood.

At three, six, eight years old, I have always been drawn to the dark and morbid. This is an excellent book for any little folks out there who like an (appropriate) scare. And it's out in time for Halloween!

[Tricia Schneider · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first glance, I wondered if this might be too scary for my little kids to read, but after reading it aloud to them, even I had to chuckle at the vivid descriptions the author uses to tell Grandpa's story. My children laughed and yelled 'ewww' at the horrible things that Grandpa experienced with the skeleton, witch and ghost. This was such a fun book to read! And my children really enjoyed the illustrations which are quirky and strange, very imaginative!

[Alaina Sloo · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite Halloween read-aloud books in the library for grades 2-4. It has the feeling of scary bits, but they're just ridiculous enough -- and the illustrations are goofy enough -- that children in that age group have the thrill of scary without the actual scare.

[Suzanne Sotzing · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a hoot! I read this book with my daughter, and we devoured it in no time! The illustrations are expressive and draw you right into the story. This is a book that will surely be around our family for generations to come.

[Krissy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am giving this book 3.5 stars.

It was not read out of nostalgia, as I am approaching 40 and reading it for the first time to my 6 year old who enjoyed In a Dark, Dark Room (as I did decades ago).

The illustrations are top notch. 5 stars. Grandpa’s “voice” really comes through (also 5 stars) and there is a lot of room here for using voices with the bad guys, so I give that 5 stars as well.

The lost stars are primarily because I just found the book to be a little goofy. The plot was a bit ridiculous, in my opinion. My 6 year old, however, loved it and has wanted to read it several times this week already, so as far as reading encouragement goes… it’s a win!

[Dafne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una noche de tormenta en la que los rayos iluminan la oscuridad, donde parece que todo se desmorona, encontramos a un niño pequeño con su abuelo. En la casa todo está bien, hay seguridad y comodidad, pero... ¿qué pasaría si estuvieras a la intemperie? ¿Qué encontrarías?

Esqueletos muertos de hambre, brujas grotescas con sus niños - araña, fantasmas aburridos viendo sus programas de televisión favoritos... Estas historias enlazadas crean una atmósfera de comedia negra que, acompañada con unos dibujos que invitan a descubrir todos los detalles, dejará embelesados a los pequeños de la casa.

[Medeia Sharif · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled on this book when I was doing research on vintage children’s stories. A man tells his grandson ghoulish tales during a stormy night. This was published in the late 1970’s and wouldn’t be considered appropriate for today’s young children (older children, yes). The illustrations are delightfully bizarre and the text borders on the gruesome. It’s a fantastic read for anyone who enjoys strange and dark tales.

[Ariza · Rating 2 out of 5]

Un libro muy cortito para los más pequeños. Ideal para el mes de octubre y su consiguiente temática de terror. Se trata de un cuento con ilustraciones que favorecen la comprensión de la historia.
Personalmente no he puntuado al alza puesto que la intencionalidad del cuento no es que me agrade a mí, sino a un público más infantil.

[Ginger Vampyre · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first came across this book when I was a small child and thanks to social media groups I was able to find it again, and it is just as creepy as I remember it being. Grandpa is telling a series of of spooky encounters he had one stormy night. The illustrations are absolutely fantastic and time should be given just to take in all the details.

[Lucas · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I liked that the hand came off of the witch because I don’t like witches and I wish it could’ve been cut off by a big ol knife that Michael myers uses. I like the boy and I know he didn’t want to be a spider because he was frowning and the other spiders were smiling. I like the witch the most. And the skeleton. And the house.” - Lucas

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fun and scary. My 7 and 4 year old boys were entranced, and even my 10 year old daughter couldn't walk away.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my most favorite book of all time. I checked it out constantly from the library when I was young and am just thrilled to have found it again as an adult.

[Dolank · Rating 5 out of 5]

It may not be as scary as I remember it but this book is my childhood. I am beyond happy that it has finally come into reprint.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book!!!!! I have a copy in my library and still read it as an adult. I read it to my girls when they were little.

[Viviana · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little too ooky spooky/disturbing & anti-witch. The wishbone was sweet, though.

[Aabha Sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

A halloween classic. I love how he draws the apparition looking for its hand and the skeleton come to life. It’s very dramatic, grabs you.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jejeje qué monada 👹

[Yohana Recio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorables historias de terror donde el abuelo cuenta que el miedo está en algunas cosas que pasan en la aventura de la vida y no en las tormentas. Moraleja de seguridad y magia ✨️💜

[LL · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book. Illustrations are outstanding.