In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories (I Can Read! Reading 2)

I first read this book when I was seven years old, and for the proceeding fourteen years, it has remained my absolute favourite book of my childhood. First off, credit must be given where it's due, and Alvin Schwartz had an amazing knack for finding the best folk stories and compiling them into an anthology. However, the real star of this book is Dirk Zimmer's illustrations. Mr. Zimmer's style is, simply put, a mixture of both a certain kind of nostalgic feeling and absolute creepiness. Each character looks cartoon-y and is given exaggerated features (Not even counting The Teeth; where each character sans the protagonist have huge grins) and freckles, which is what saves the book from becoming almost too scary, like the Scary Stories books. (Talk about nightmare fuel when it comes to those illustrations!) When it comes to the stories, they're all great in their own way. The aforementioned 'Teeth' (my favourite as a child) is a great beginning tale, as it's much more funny and creepy than it is scary. It's about a boy who is walking home in the dark, and, after asking a man who looks like he'd belong on one of those Neighborhood Watch signs what time it is, is frightened when the man smiles and reveals his huge set of teeth. The boy then encounters two more men, whose smiles get progressively bigger. 'The Graveyard' is another one that is somewhat humourous, but a lot more creepy, due to showing a trio of green-skinned corpses. It is somewhat song-like in how it's written, and it deals with a woman who ponders death whilst eating a picnic inside of a graveyard. Everyone knows 'The Green Ribbon'. Decapitations galore, basically. 'In A Dark, Dark Room' is another song-like little story that culminates into a giant ghost popping out of a treasure chest. 'The Night It Rained' is possibly the most unnerving story in the whole book; I remember it being the most bothersome to me as a child. It deals with the spectre of a small boy, and a man driving home on a rainy night who seems him and believes him to be lost. 'The Pirate' is about a girl named Ruth who is staying at the haunted house of her cousin, where a pirate had supposedly died centuries before. 'The Ghost of John' is a nice closing poem about a skeleton, written by an eight-year-old girl. Like many reviewers have stated, it's up to you, the parent/guardian, to know your child well enough to know if this book will freak them out or not. And, you know what? Sometimes you just don't know how they'll react, either! I, myself, loved it as a seven-year-old, though it was also very unnerving. In a fun way, mind you! But, seven is probably a good age to 'test the waters' with this book. In the end, it all just matters on the disposition of your child, and what they can handle. This is a popular book for a reason, many end up loving it, even if it was initially scary! All in all, this is a fantastic book that you'd be hard pressed to ever forget. I really recommend it. (And, also, how I view the stories in order of scariness/creepiness: The Teeth, The Ghost of John, In A Dark, Dark Room, The Pirate, In The Graveyard, The Night It Rained, The Green Ribbon. Perhaps you could read the stories in this order, so you can stop before getting to the 'big guns', as it were, to not freak out your child.)

Childhood fave. Bought for my kids. They loved it. We can all agree when her head fell off and the only thing holding it in place was a choker, changed our lives 🤣

The best book! Exactly as I remember as a kid.

Just as scary as I remember from reading it to my 30-something daughters. I bought my own copy to read to my little grandsons. I can’t wait til they’re old enough; at 3 and 1 they’re too young. My kids are still terrified of The Green Ribbon!

What a great memory of old classics.

I bought this book for my children to enjoy, just like I did when I was young. The stories are unforgettable and engaging, perfect for early readers who’ll want to keep reading!

My elementary school age daughter loved for ME to read this to her at night because she said I read it better. It had some stories that I guess would scare younger kids. My daughter just loved them and huddled under the covers peeping out so I guess it did scare her a little.

Nostalgia at its best. I remember this being the first book I purchased at a school book fair in elementary school. Brings back great memories of my brother's and I reading it and trying to scare one another.

My kid thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Yup ! Classic book and stories ! Same tales as the original. I prefer the illustrations in the original from when I was a kid in the 90s but the art in this version is still good. The kids love it. Comes with a CD too. Can listen along with the book or in the car.

Brilliant book, not scary, but fun with fab illustrations

Bien

Fun, basic stories for our ESL classes. Easy to understand.