Monster Tales: Vampires, Werewolves and Things

by Roger Elwood (Editor), Franz Altschuler (Illustrator)

Ex library book, hardcover. Please see full description.

Genres: Horror, Fiction

117 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Roger Elwood was an American science fiction writer and editor, perhaps best known for having edited a large number of anthologies and collections for a variety of publishers in the early 1970s. Elwood was also the founding editor of Laser Books and, in more recent years, worked in the evangelical Christian market.

Reviews

[blake · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of horror stories for children I wish I had when I was a kid. I might have missed it because these are actual horror stories, and are only "for kids" in the sense that the grammar and syntax is fairly easy to parse (a couple of notches more sophisticated than Ready Player One, say) and the stories all have kids as the main characters—but not because there isn't some grisly stuff in here.

Apart from the last story, which is whimsical fun and probably okay for all but the meekest of children, this book has mystery, revenge, curses, bad choices that are soon regretted—all things kids readily understand. Two intriguing recurring themes: imperiled pets and scary old people. This reflects a pretty good understanding of kids: They worry about their pets and old people scare them.

The kids do not always come out on top—alive, I mean—which makes for some interest.

Years ago, I read the first story ("Weeonee's Child") as a bedtime story to my young son, and it freaked him out so much we didn't read any others, which I had forgotten until I picked it up recently while going through the stacks trying to figure out how to organize children's literature. (This surprised me a bit, since he was otherwise more-or-less impervious to scary stuff, but not only is every child different, the same child is different at different times.)

One thing that sets it apart from other similar collections is that Elwood actually commissioned these stories, rather than gathering up forgotten tales of defunct magazines and repackaging them for children—lookin' at you, Great Ghost Stories of the Old West, though this was common practice at the time. I'm unfamiliar with the writers but there's a good mix of familiarity and originality, and simplification of prose without dumbing it down.

Definitely worth a read, if you're into that sort of thing—or have a brave kid who is.

[Christopher Gadomski · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books as a child. This is a collection of horror stories that thrilled me as a young kid and that I still enjoy to this day as an adult. I've even been fortunate enough to have been able to purchase this book from my grade school when they were having a library sale decades ago so I still have it in my library today.

[Erik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was 11 years old when I read this. I believe it was the book that turned me into a horror fan.

[Jaime Shroyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have given it 4 stars, but 2 dogs died. :(

[Dave/Maggie Bean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another of my childhood favorites. I read it when I was ten, and it scared the bejeezus out of me.