Member Reviews

This is a great set of horror stories! These are the perfect amount of scary for the intended audience and I think adults would enjoy this too. Every story is great but my favorite is 'Streamed'. I would recommend this. Special Thank You to Jeff Szpirglas, Steven P. Hughes, Orca Publishing, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

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I absolutely loved this collection as an adult. It was nostalgic, fun, spooky, and captivating. I can see middle grade readers huddled up under blankets reading these tales with fascinating and white knuckles.

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I received a complimentary copy of this book via Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

12 year old me would have been very happy with this book. It has a Are You Afraid of the Dark? Vibe, that made me want to keep reading.

Of course, know your kid. Some stories could be a little scary or unsettling for some children, and that okay. On a whole, though, the illustrations are amazing (my favorite being Baby Eye), and the stories are campfire greatness..

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I loved Goosebumps growing up. This book definitely gave me Goosebumps vibes. But, darker and more modern.
A fun collection of middle grade horror stories, this is a great read for fans of goosebumps or parents wanting to introduce their kids to horror (I'm not a parent so you probably want to read it yourself before reading it to your kids).
The collection includes stories about a horror streaming service, solicitor phone calls, growing up and an author who mysteriously is able to write more horror stories than seem humanly possible.
Give this one a read, it comes out later this month!

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

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The stories in this book were well written and the illustrations were great. This is a great read for middle graders.

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Fans of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, rejoice. Jeff Szpirglas takes the charm of Alvin Schwartz’s beloved series and updates it for the modern audience without making it feel shameless. The stories don’t try to pander to children and instead embrace the darkness and disturbing aspects of Scary Stories, fully intending to scare the person reading them.

The frame narrative was a bit of a surprise as most horror anthology books don’t have one, but this one was engaging enough to not make the audience bored while it was happening. The illustrations are another obvious positive, taking the best elements of the original illustrations and polishing them up to create beautiful and occasionally grotesque images that will stick with the reader.

For a short children’s horror book, Book of Screams exceeded expectations and is just as enjoyable for adults to read. A surprise, but a very welcome one.

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I loved the use of a horror author as the plot device in this book. It had a great concept for a horror novel and worked with the description. I enjoyed the characters and getting to know them in this universe. I enjoyed the main tale about the girl meeting her favorite horror novel. It had a spooky atmosphere and it worked well overall. I loved the nine tales in this and each one worked well overall.

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A fun middle-grade collection of scary stories! This book is reminiscent of Goosebumps and will be perfect for Halloween. The stories are all very short so it makes for a quick spooky read. I'll quickly summarize all of the stories below so you can get an idea of the stories. This book also has really cool illustrations throughout too.

Stories:
-Masks: A young boy finally makes friends with another boy and invites him over. Things go down hill when the boy takes his mask off.
-Tanya and the Ink: A girl meets her favorite horror author and is given a scary bookmark. She starts to think that her author is up to something shady when his signatures comes to life.
-The Words on the Wall: A young boy finds writing on the wall of his school and with the help of the janitor, he tries to save a kid but things go wrong.
-Baby Eyes: A girl loses her eyeball like teeth and her mom reassures her it is just her baby eye.
-The Tar: A boy ventures onto the roof of his school to find tar that is alive.
-Dust to Dust: A girl discovers there is something in her air ducts.
-Supply and Demand: There is something wrong with the substitute teacher.
-A Tight Fit: A thrifted t-shirt turns into something more sinister.
-Streamed: A horror movie is watched by two friends and things go very wrong.
-The Feeder: A boy brings home a strange man in his shed and things go very wrong.

If any of these stories sound interesting to you, check out this book! Thanks so much to netgalley and Orca for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

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Definitely not a book for me but I could see getting this for someone younger to see if it could give them an interest in the genre of horror.

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