What do you think?
Rate this book
They're Coming for You: Scary Stories that Scream to be Read
Dead things that don't stay dead, clowns gone bad, supernatural evil doers, gruesome ghosts, and ghoulish graveyards are just part of this chilling collection of 27 scary stories sure to give you da chicken skin and leave you screaming for more. Or just screaming. This macabre mix of howls, humor, and horror is a must-have for anybody who loves to be scared. But take the warning seriously... this book is not for wimps!
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
1 person want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
Read
June 22, 2010 O. Penn-Coughin shares a variety of stories intended to chill the bones of the audience for Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories books. However, while Schwartz collected his stories from folklore and legend, Penn-Coughin has written these himself. In his introduction, Penn-Coughin makes suggestions aimed specifically at young readers on how to tell the stories orally. However, the definitions the author provides in the book’s margins suggest that he expects the reader to refer to them in a silent reading. The inclusion of instructions to would-be oral storytellers throughout affects the structure, effectiveness, and flow of the stories for silent readers, however. Some stories have also been written in dialect, which is distracting and will be frustrating to struggling readers. According to the author, the stories in dialect were intended to be told orally, to make them more engaging for a live audience, but I found that they subtracted from the stories’ effectiveness.
The stories are of varying quality. Some are genuinely horrifying, like “Into the Woods” and “Checked Out”. A few, such as “Man in the Box” and “Real Bad Burrito” are witty. “Shot at the Gas Station” and a few others could be used to bolster interest in social studies in Oregon, the author’s home state. And some of them, like “The Delicious Death of Jay Whitebread” are just annoying. Penn-Coughin also illustrated the collection, and his illustrations are a real strength of the book. His bizarre, indistinct black and white images provide plenty of opportunity for the imagination to run wild and are a perfect complement to a collection of scary stories.
They’re Coming For You: Scary Stories that Scream to be Read won’t replace Alvin Schwartz’s collections, but it is a reasonable supplement. Though flawed, the collection will win over its intended audience, and if scary stories are in high demand in your library, it’s a worthwhile purchase.
Review by Kirsten Kowalewski
The stories are of varying quality. Some are genuinely horrifying, like “Into the Woods” and “Checked Out”. A few, such as “Man in the Box” and “Real Bad Burrito” are witty. “Shot at the Gas Station” and a few others could be used to bolster interest in social studies in Oregon, the author’s home state. And some of them, like “The Delicious Death of Jay Whitebread” are just annoying. Penn-Coughin also illustrated the collection, and his illustrations are a real strength of the book. His bizarre, indistinct black and white images provide plenty of opportunity for the imagination to run wild and are a perfect complement to a collection of scary stories.
They’re Coming For You: Scary Stories that Scream to be Read won’t replace Alvin Schwartz’s collections, but it is a reasonable supplement. Though flawed, the collection will win over its intended audience, and if scary stories are in high demand in your library, it’s a worthwhile purchase.
Review by Kirsten Kowalewski
Displaying 1 of 1 review