Lovely Little Shelf

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, by Alvin Schwartz

I have always been a little bit morbid.  I know I’ve told you that before, but it just comes up so often.  This week I was struggling between Summer of My German Soldier and Scary Stories.  Huh?  I guess even as a kid I was quite the prolific reader.

Anyway, I completely loved this whole series.  Most of the stories were adapted from urban legends and myths like the hook man, the baby-sitter getting calls from inside the house, the killer in the back of the car… that kind of stuff.  The pictures were just as creepy as the stories, sometimes even creepier.  I remember there being creepy songs and poems and jokes and tons of ghost stories.

I remember one of the stories (not sure if it was in this one or one of the sequels) where a girl always wore this ribbon around her neck.  She falls in love with this boy and he always asks her about it.  One day, either she offers to show him or he just takes it off and her head plops off- that was all that was holding her together.  *Insert girly screaming here*

I was in Girl Scouts the whole time I was growing up and I remember this being one of those essential packing items when going on a camping trip.  After we were supposed to be asleep we’d read these by flashlight and just totally freak each other out.  This really is one of my fonder book-related memories.  So much fun.  I remember getting one girl all worked up and crying and we didn’t want her telling on us for being up late so we resorted to gossip and who “liked” who until she fell asleep… then we got to the really creepy stories.

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