The August House Book of Scary Stories: Spooky Tales for Telling Out Loud

by Liz Parkhurst (Editor), Tom Wrenn (Cover Illustrator)

Scary stories: everybody loves to hear them, and everybody loves to tell them. They are popular for sharing in many settings-campouts, sleepovers, classroom or youth-group gatherings-as well as just plain fun to read. Selected especially for appeal to upper-elementary and middle-school students, each story has been crafted through multiple performances in school and library settings. Stories include traditional folktales, local legends, and original stories; some have historical settings and some are set in current times. All are sure to engage the most reluctant reader.

Genres: Fiction, Horror

160 pages, Hardcover

First published August 25, 2009

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a helpful resource for Storytellers, aspiring storytellers and writers!
Each of the 5 sections of this book are divided into categories:
-Morals, Ghosts, Humor, Urban Legends/Jump Stories and Fearless Women
Each section features between 4 Stories each, all retold here, either from Collective Folktales, Historic Ghost Stories or Urban Legends, by phenomenal storytellers. Each story is very brief (only a few pages or so), but many pack a punch.
Each stories' storyteller notes are what makes this book stand out. Each storyteller gives a bit of backstory into their research, resources of finding the story or versions of it, and how a storyteller can adapt or change or make it their own. Fun and spooky!

[Jake W · Rating 4 out of 5]

i am reading scary stories written by liz parkhurst.the story i recently finished was the ginger bread boy. there was a girl named sofia and her mother had past away and she lived with her step mother who was very abbusive to sofia. she made sofia work all day every day and when she did something wrong she would hit sofia with a medal chain. one day when sofia was cutting down weeds she decided to run away in the woods. and to find out what happends next you will have to read this book.i think liz parkhurst does a very good job at dragging you in to this book because in each story she puts like sofia ran into the woods or michele ran for his life whitch makes you want to keep reading to find out what happends next. i give this book 4 stars because i like scary books because i like to think about them when im done reading or tell my friends the stories i heard. i reccomend this book to people who like horror books.

[Teresa Bateman · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're a storyteller this is a book you'll want on your shelves. It is a collection of 20 scary, tellable tales, presented by storytellers and including information about both the teller and hints about how to tell the story well. There are some classics here, and stories from a variety of cultures. There are tales of good ghosts and bad, and stories that are designed to make your audience JUMP at just the right moment. As an elementary librarian and storyteller I immediately saw ways I could use this book and many of the stories would be easy to tell. In fact, I almost told one off the cuff when someone made a comment at school just after I finished reading that story. The stories themselves are beautifully written but, like all good tellable tales, it's easy to find the bones of each story so you can design your own flesh around it to make the story your own. A great collection that I can highly recommend.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thin volume with contributions from well-known storytellers. Many stories you have heard before, others are fresh, including an original story from San Souci. Each tale is followed by a note from the storyteller on ways to tell the story effectively, as well as a brief blurb about the origin of the tale, with motifs when available. Trouble is, not many of these are really scary. This might be an additional purchase for libraries with great folktale collections, or for adults who are practicing storytellers, but children won't find this book super-appealing.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I read the stories at home by myself to decide which ones to read aloud, I didn't think they were that scary, but when I turned off the lights and read them to the 5th graders in the library, it was a success and pretty spooky!

[Nakeya Lynch · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been my favorite book to read I read it twice that's how good of a book it was. Its not just one boring scary story it's many different ones.My favorite was when this mad had the bravest maid of all who wasn't scared of anything. Go into the graveyard house and get a scull and she did it and a man tried to scare her but it didn't work. She shut the door and the man died of frighten and after that everyone believed that she was the bravest. I do recommend this book if your looking to tell a good spooky scary story

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book. I wouldn't say any of the stories were especially scary, but I suppose they would be more so if it was dark and they were read out loud in the right way. They were entertaining though.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done!

[Raegan Jansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in first grade... everyone would fight over who got it

[Daniella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Practicing my storytelling

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful collection of scary short stories that come from all over the world. I love that the author/contributor of each story offers storytelling tips to enhance the tale.

The stories are not overly gory and I also love that many of the tales offer a bit of an historical perspective about life in the featured places and times. Some of the stories are very old and some are quite modern.

One of my favorite tales was "The Boy Who Drew Cats". We've read The Boy Who Drew Cats before and I enjoyed reading that one again. Our oldest and I read this book independently and we both really enjoyed it.

[Esmeralda Vela · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my opinion Scary Stories is an awesome book because it is really a scary book.I am able to relate to none of them because I am not a mean or rude person.If this book was on series I would definitely read them until the series end.The story of all the stories I love is "The Vain Girl and the Handsome Visitor" I love the story because it taught a very good lesson to not be selfish about your self and think about other people.I just love the stories but that one was my favorite.I would recommend this to the people who only like horror and if you don't I won't recommend it.I hope you would love this book as much as I did.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very fun and safe enough for young audiences. The first half had a hard time holding my interest, but the stories got better as the book went along. It was interesting to have folklore from different cultures and the acknowledgement that many of our stories overlap and share elements.

[Jen Bojkov · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this to find a story to tell for a storytelling class I am taking. This was a wonderful resource. i found about a 1/2 dozen potential stories. Lots of spooky and startling stories with a few more funny stories thrown in for good measure.

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book so far! It is so good and the scary stories are so scary! Even the cover is pretty disturbing, at least my friend thinks so(naming no names)!

[Michele]

this book is about scary stories that are from different country,state,and city.which is interusting because you get to learn about different things about that state,county,and city

[Christen]

Spookily fun stories to help my fourth grade students discuss their fears.