Bruce Coville's Book of Nightmares: Tales to Make You Scream

Bruce Coville's Book Of... #4

by Bruce Coville (Editor)

Have you ever had a terrifying dream? Woken up in a cold sweat wondering if that horrible thing really happened? Well, get ready to sweat some more--this book will take you through 13 spine-chilling and unexplainable adventures that can only be called...NIGHTMARES!

Who knows what might happen? You could be drawn into a mirror, or possessed by a strange puppet, or trapped in the world of the dead--never to return again? So, read with caution and turn the pages very, very carefully!

Includes the following stories:

Introduction: Don't read this book / Bruce Coville --
There's nothing under the bed / Bruce Coville --
Through the mirror / Anne Mazer --
The boy who cried dragon / Deborah Millitello --
Drawing the moon / Janni Lee Simner --
The cat came back / Lawrence Watt-Evans --
The fat man / Joe R. Lansdale --
The hand / Eugene M. Gagliano --
Toll call / Michael Mansfield --
Master of the hunt / Michael Markiewicz --
Give a puppet a hand / Mary Downing Hahn --
Halloween Party / Steven Prohaska --
The baby-sitter / Jane Yolen --
Death's door / Mark A. Garland

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fantasy, Childrens, Fiction, Anthologies, Middle Grade

160 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1995

About the author

Bruce Coville was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1950. His family lived in farm territory, about twenty miles north of Syracuse. Bruce grew up around the corner from his grandparents' dairy farm, where he spent a great deal of time as a child, dodging cows and chores to the best of his ability. As a young reader he loved Mary Poppins and Dr. Dolittle, and still has fond memories of rising ahead of the rest of his family so he could huddle in a chair and read THE VOYAGES OF DR. DOLITTLE. He also read lots of things that people consider junk (Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, and zillions of comic books). His only real regret is the time he spent watching television, when he could have been reading instead. (A mind is a terrible thing to waste!)

His first book, THE FOOLISH GIANT, was published in 1978. It was illustrated by his wife, Katherine, whom he had married in 1969. This was followed in 1979 by SARAH'S UNICORN, also illustrated by Katherine. After a long period of working separately, the Covilles began collaborating again with SPACE BRAT and GOBLINS IN THE CASTLE, both published in 1992.

Before getting published Bruce earned his living as a toymaker, a gravedigger, a cookware salesman, an assembly line worker, and finally as an elementary school teacher (second and fourth grades). He left teaching in 1981 to devote himself to becoming a full time writer - though it took another five years to achieve that goal!)

Bruce has published over 100 books, which have appeared in over a dozen countries around the world and sold more than sixteen million copies. Among his most popular titles are MY TEACHER IS AN ALIEN, INTO THE LAND OF THE UNICORNS, and THE MONSTER'S RING. In 2001 he founded Full Cast Audio, an audiobook company dedicated to creating unabridged, full cast recordings of the best in children's and young adult literature.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nostalgic reread, and while some of the tales are far sillier than I remember, the majority are successful: gripping, erstwhile, scary. Even though (as an adult) I had a pretty good inkling of how most would end, I was kept reading. Bruce Coville was 1990s YA canon material, and I am happy to report that the anthologies he put together have not altogether lost their luster.

[Pulp_Fiction_Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was quite underwhelming. I couldn't help but compare it to the 'Tales To Give You Goosebumps' series while I was reading it as they were released around the same time, are the same length, have the same number of stories and are geared towards the same demographic and in doing so I have to say that this falls short of all six entries in that series. The stories are quite boring, especially in the first half of the book. There are a couple in here with really good premises but end up not amounting to much.

[Kayla Martin-Gant · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I love every book in this series of anthologies, this is the one I've read so much that I have to be careful handling it because I've had the original box set since I was 9-10 years old, and I've read this one so much half the pages are falling out. "Drawing the Moon" is one of the most haunting stories I've ever read, and "Death's Door" makes me ugly laugh every single time I read it.

[this_eel · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a few only-okay stories in this installment of The Nineties’ Best Anthology Series Ever but Janni Lee Simmer’s “Drawing the Moon” is probably the only short story I’ve ever read that I think about on a monthly basis. Absolutely badass.

[Skyelr · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Fatman!

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classic horror collection out together by one of my favorite childhood authors!

[ashes ➷ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know I'm an adult and not allowed to make judgments on kids' books, but this... felt lacking. Authors I know are great, authors I have read great work from, just didn't come through on this one. There was one insanely scary story (seriously... felt almost too much for a kids' collection), but the rest... mix of poor ideas, mostly. On the other hand, again, not a kid. Would probably not recommend it, though.

[Ezra Estephan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I reckon I last read this in 2007. At the time, I enjoyed enough of the stories to decide to hang onto the book. My opinion’s changed since then. A small amount of the stories present are still pretty good/weird, but most are on the meh spectrum.

[Emily Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bruce Coville's Book of Nightmares is a nostalgic masterpiece for anyone who grew up reading children's horror in the '90s. As an editor, Coville assembled a phenomenal collection of 13 spine-chilling stories that perfectly balance genuine creepiness with age-appropriate fun.

[Wyatt Trunk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not the scariest or the best book I’ve read, but a nice way of spending a rainy afternoon.

[H. Givens · Rating 3 out of 5]

CN: cat deaths in "There's nothing under the bed," "The cat came back," and "The fat man."

[Adrian Gazaway · Rating 1 out of 5]

No.

[Nicco Saldivar · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title of the book is Bruce Coville's Book of Nightmares: Tales to make you scream. the author of the book is Bruce Coville and i didn't really care that much for it and the reason that i didn't care for it was because it was supposed to frighten or scare me butt it didn't. The settings of the book are several places in times that depend on the story. since their is several stories, ill just tell the main character of the last story. the main character of the story never really identifies who he is. the storys conflict is that these kids are horribly rude to their bus driver. but then thay get a new bus driver who turns out to be death and try to scare him off. i would mostly reccomend this book to young readers of the age of 8 to 6 because they might actually get some fear from it.(less)
Oct 06, 2014 11:26PM · delete

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toll Call was my favorite story out of all the stories in the novel. The best stories in this series either made you think or invaded your dreams in the worst possible way.

Not particularly very scary stories and cannot hold a candle to Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, but a close runner up.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books. I love the stories in here, even years later they are still sending shivers down my spine.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

read this when i was in primary school

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose this book because it sounded interesting. I liked this book because it had scary stories.