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A review by tcgarback
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark: Three Books to Chill Your Bones: All 3 Scary Stories Books with the Original Art! by Alvin Schwartz
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Critical Score: C
Personal Score: B
Reading Experience: 📘📘📘📘(4/5)
Most of the stories are terrible, but it’s not original fiction. It’s folklore. Schwartz is just putting them into his own words. But still. He really couldn’t find better content than this across such a vague and expansive set of perimeters for scary stories? Repetitive, goofy, random, and abrupt—so many of these are just garbage. There is a handful of good stuff in here, but even the good stuff is mediocre.
And I know this is for kids, but that’s no excuse. Children’s fiction should still be of quality.
The reason I enjoyed this book is because it’s charming. The illustrations are disturbing. The collection’s vibes are nostalgic (especially since I read the first volume when I was a kid) and, because the stories are so short and simple, reading it was addictive.
So the content is poor, but it’s still a pretty fun read, and it is historical in nature; these pieces are windows into cultures of old, and in that way this omnibus is like a time capsule, even if it’s not that studious or thoughtfully constructed. The lowkey nature of the book makes the material more inviting.
Critical Score: C
Personal Score: B
Reading Experience: 📘📘📘📘(4/5)
Most of the stories are terrible, but it’s not original fiction. It’s folklore. Schwartz is just putting them into his own words. But still. He really couldn’t find better content than this across such a vague and expansive set of perimeters for scary stories? Repetitive, goofy, random, and abrupt—so many of these are just garbage. There is a handful of good stuff in here, but even the good stuff is mediocre.
And I know this is for kids, but that’s no excuse. Children’s fiction should still be of quality.
The reason I enjoyed this book is because it’s charming. The illustrations are disturbing. The collection’s vibes are nostalgic (especially since I read the first volume when I was a kid) and, because the stories are so short and simple, reading it was addictive.
So the content is poor, but it’s still a pretty fun read, and it is historical in nature; these pieces are windows into cultures of old, and in that way this omnibus is like a time capsule, even if it’s not that studious or thoughtfully constructed. The lowkey nature of the book makes the material more inviting.