More Bones: Scary Stories From Around the World

Module 9, SLIS 5420

Summary

This is an interesting collection of international ghost stories and scary tales. The stories are short and most of them can be read within 5 minutes. The stories are from Europe, Asia and the Middle East. They are nicely (and creepily) illustrated by E.M. Gist. The cover art is attractive to those who appreciate the macabre and the volume is not so large as to discourage timid readers. Almost all of the stories fall into the category of cautionary tales. The participants have choices to make and the wrong decisions can lead to dire consequences.

Bibiographic Information

Olson, Arielle North, and Howard Schwartz. More Bones: Scary Stories From Around the World. Penguin Young Readers Group, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-670-06339-0

My Thoughts

The stories included in this book are a nice cross-cultural look at was scares people around the world. What is most striking about them is how well they work in scaring a reader from any culture. It shows the reader that fear of the strange and supernatural is something that crosses cultural boundaries. We are all hardwired to appreciate the spooky. As cautionary tales, these stories also support the idea that if something on the surface seems like too good a deal, there is probably something wrong with it. This makes for a nice supportive lesson in real life, despite the supernatural sources of the themes.

Reviews


A sequel to Ask the Bones (1999), this tour of the world's shadowy corners is full of dark wizards, unkind witches, and other untrustworthy creatures. No matter if the stories originate from Ireland, Iceland, China, or Turkey, they all offer up similar lessons:?nbsp;don't try to outsmart magical beings, for example. The 22?nbsp;tales, as retold by Olson and Schwartz, give a vivid glimpse into unfamiliar, unnerving territory, but they are short, so they won't?nbsp;draw young readers too deeply into nightmarish worlds. The atmospheric?nbsp;illustrations, while not intricately detailed, are somewhat startling in their imagery: a skull featuring a single, staring eyeball or a close-up of an aggressive rat's snarling head. Olson and Schwartz sometimes end their stories with a direct question that adds more shivers; after one tale about a skull that is searching for a new family to haunt, the text asks, How about yours? In other selections, plot twists, transformations, and other mysteries are left to be pondered over, probably at bedtime. Full source notes for the stories are provided in an appendix.
Nolan, Abby. Booklist. October 1, 2008.

Gr 4-6-According to the source notes, many of these 22 selections are drawn from 19th-century collections. The assortment ranges from stories that utilize traditional folktale elements such as granted wishes, witches, and wizards to others featuring ghosts and corpses. "The Headless Horseman" (Ireland), "The Shaggy Gray Arm" (Iceland), "The Werewolf in the Forest" (Eastern Europe), and "The Ghost of the Rainbow Maiden" (Hawaii) are among the creepy entries. Gist's dark, smudgy illustrations may prove more frightening than the tales themselves. Give the book to fans of Alvin Schwartz's "Scary Stories."
Slagenwhite, Laurie. School Library Journal. September 1, 2008.

Awards

None listed.

Suggestions for Use in Library

Teens and tweens that enjoy good scary stories would enjoy this book. It makes a good choice for independent reading in that the reader can easily pick up where he or she left off within the book. It would also make a good choice for anyone with little time to spend at any given moment on reading and enjoys a scary story. A final use could be as a cross-cultural exploration of what scares readers.