What do you think?
Rate this book
American Storytelling
The Scary Story Reader: Forty-One of the Scariest Stories for Sleepovers, Campfires, Car & Bus Trips-Even for First Dates!
Gathers urban legends and stories about ghosts, murderers, corpses, curses, cannibalism, and monsters
Hardcover
First published September 1, 1993
3 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 19, 2013
Sarah got this at the library to day and finished it in an afternoon and told me I should read it. It brought back memories of every sleepover I attended! What I really liked was the stories were grouped by geographical region or by type.
November 21, 2016
My 10 year old son and I read a few short stories from this book every night together over the course of a month. He really enjoyed the book. Some of the stories were pretty intense, though, so I would make sure that if you're reading this to a younger child or if they are reading it themselves, be sure they are ok with reading some pretty gruesome stories.
There is one section of stories that are called jump stories. This is where you yell out a line towards the very end of the story and see if the person you are reading to jumps. My son loved these stories the best, and yes, he did jump every time!
There is one section of stories that are called jump stories. This is where you yell out a line towards the very end of the story and see if the person you are reading to jumps. My son loved these stories the best, and yes, he did jump every time!
January 14, 2020
Excellent short horror thriller stories to read at night or camping! Very creepy and awesome! Thrilling!
October 24, 2024
Some pretty creepy stories here
August 30, 2017
Child me: 4 stars
Adult me: 3 stars (maybe 3.5)
*For the first book in a "child/teen/middlegrade/nostalgic" book, I am going with the rating younger me would have gone with, then if I read on in the series, I will rate the books what adult me believes it should be rated. If the book is a stand alone, I will go with whatever rating I feel most comfortable giving the book. Please note, I do not really think books should have an age limit. People should read what they want to regardless of the intended age group, except for kids reading erotica or something, of course.*
--
I sometimes have a hard time rating and reviewing short story collections. In this book, a couple might sadly get the 1 star and a couple get a 2 star. Most of them are 4 stars, though! My only real "complaint" if you can call it that is I wish there were more artwork for each story! I really enjoyed the artwork by Wendell E. Hall.
Some of these stories were familiar as I've heard them told in various ways over the years, such as the babysiter who gets a phone call, the man with a hook and the don't look back. It is also highly possible I read this as a child. I would have been around the right age when this came out, I believe. As a child, some of these stories would most likely bore me, but most of them would be enjoyed!
Adult me: 3 stars (maybe 3.5)
*For the first book in a "child/teen/middlegrade/nostalgic" book, I am going with the rating younger me would have gone with, then if I read on in the series, I will rate the books what adult me believes it should be rated. If the book is a stand alone, I will go with whatever rating I feel most comfortable giving the book. Please note, I do not really think books should have an age limit. People should read what they want to regardless of the intended age group, except for kids reading erotica or something, of course.*
--
I sometimes have a hard time rating and reviewing short story collections. In this book, a couple might sadly get the 1 star and a couple get a 2 star. Most of them are 4 stars, though! My only real "complaint" if you can call it that is I wish there were more artwork for each story! I really enjoyed the artwork by Wendell E. Hall.
Some of these stories were familiar as I've heard them told in various ways over the years, such as the babysiter who gets a phone call, the man with a hook and the don't look back. It is also highly possible I read this as a child. I would have been around the right age when this came out, I believe. As a child, some of these stories would most likely bore me, but most of them would be enjoyed!
November 12, 2013
This is an interesting collection of spooky stories, many of which are 'classics' that have been passed down from generation to generation. I had already heard of or read many of the stories and they are short enough to remember and pass on, especially around a campfire or when telling ghost stories.
Our oldest is at the age where she likes to read scary stories, as long as they aren't too scary. She says that she will sometimes have nightmares, but that hasn't stopped her delight when we find a new collection of creepy tales.
I loved that the authors explain how and why this works at her age and why these tales actually can be 'good' for them. I love that I now understand why I, too, was drawn to horror fiction when I was a young preteen/teenager.
Overall, it's a fun fast read and somewhat nostalgic for me.
Our oldest is at the age where she likes to read scary stories, as long as they aren't too scary. She says that she will sometimes have nightmares, but that hasn't stopped her delight when we find a new collection of creepy tales.
I loved that the authors explain how and why this works at her age and why these tales actually can be 'good' for them. I love that I now understand why I, too, was drawn to horror fiction when I was a young preteen/teenager.
Overall, it's a fun fast read and somewhat nostalgic for me.
December 14, 2008
It was good, but not that scary. Sometimes it was scary, but not most of the time. I really liked it.
October 26, 2009
Rather fun spooky stories for the pre-teen set. Research for Pack Meeting.
July 2, 2011
Scary/creepy!
October 4, 2011
Excellent collection for reading aloud.
August 1, 2012
This was the best scary story book I had ever read as a kid. A few stories in it still haunt me to this day, the story about the cottonmouth snakes in particular.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews