The August House Book of Scary Stories

Scary stories drawn from history and local legends. 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. According to authors Richard and Judy Dockrey Young, "Scary stories help children face fear and master it by portraying the elements of conflict in clear, good-versus-evil terms, with good triumphant in the end." This essential spooky collection includes: stories from traditional cultures, jump tales, urban legends, tips for telling the stories, thematic groupings for easy references and profiles for the contributing storytellers.