'Afraid of Everything' is a collection of short stories perfect for fans of horror and suspense. Tierney provides a variety of tales based on different phobias that will intrigue and engage readers.

This was a cute little book. It's not something I would normally read. I think I would only buy it for a kid with specific interests related to this because, while detailed, it's a little obscure, and I'm not sure how interesting the average kid would find it. Granted, I don't really have anyone within the targeted audience to gauge their interests, so sadly my review is a bit limited in scope.

(In my defense, this was one my first e-arc requests, and I was getting the feel of the process).

Adam Tierney's collection of short stories for tweens and young teens offers up a terrifying tale for each letter of the alphabet. Afraid of Everything respects young readers' intelligence by encouraging them to imagine what goes bump in the night, as many of the stories are open-ended. Full of silly, scary bedtime reads, the book is light on gore but heavy on humour, wordplay and delightful, vivid illustrations.

Tierney and Cousin’s Afraid of Everything is a collection of fun scary stories for children, each focusing on a different, unique phobia. A phobia is an intense, irrational fear of something that is often innocuous. Some common ones are fear of flying, fear of spiders, and fear of water. More uncommon phobias include fear of the colour yellow (or any specific colour…), fear of clouds, and fear of crowds/ being crowded (different than fear of enclosed spaces). There are 26 stories, focusing on a phobia starting with each letter of the alphabet. Eleven bonus stories with different artists, are included. I really enjoyed the art! The stories felt simple, but then, they are meant for younger kids. Some felt a little silly, while others had a definite Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark vibe. Great addition for any child’s library!

***Many thanks to Netgalley and IDW Publishing for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Afraid of Everything is a book of short scary stories for kids. It blends creepy illustrations with an alphabet of popular phobias and spooky tales. Honestly, it was refreshing to find a short story group for the creepy kids I know. If you like "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" chances are you'll love this book too.

I really love the concept of this book. As a horror fan myself its nice to see a "horror" like read that I can share with my kids.

The book flows alphabetically from one phobia to the next. The book has an impressive array of phobias
The stories are very short.. I have a love -hate relationship with this. I love that they are short because that makes them a great quick creepy bedtime read. However I also hate that they are short because some of the stories dont seem fully developed.

I also personally think the art is a good blend of super cute while just a little creepy.


I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A great book with fun graphics. Provides a
Good overview of the different phobias, easy for people to flip through and learn about them.

This just didn't work for me. The concept was great, but each story was SHORT, like super short. Like, these were all write ups for larger story ideas that could have been short stories or stand-alone books in their own right. Also, most of the stories were gross or dumb and not very scary.

I thought that this book was brilliant and I am definitely going to be buying a copy once it is released.
Each page is separated into a letter of the alphabet and contains a fantastically gruesome drawing. So, A is for arachnophobia and there is a drawing of a girl covered in spiders along with a short, one-page horror story of that phobia.
There were several phobias that I hadn’t heard of and hadn’t even realised existed. The stories were wonderfully gross and creepy, very much in the style of Anthony Horowitz or R.L. Stine and short enough to read one at bedtime to truly terrorise children. I loved the corresponding artwork, both Kawaii and yet horrifying.

My thanks to NetGalley and IDW Publishing for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

This just didn't work for me. The concept was great, but each story was SHORT, like flash fiction short. Like, these were all write ups of larger story ideas that could have been short stories/books in their own right. Also, most of the stories were gross or kind of dumb and not very scary at all.

Each story had a picture of the MC with the scary thing and the first three pictures of girls were SO highly sexualized, I was confused, as the author said he wrote this for children of his son's age, which was eight! After that, other than the pictures that went with the 11 bonus stories at the end, the pictures became more age-appropriate.

Also, interesting that the story of being afraid at school, the author had the MC have the same name as his son, who cried in the story, and the story never really ended! Kind of...weird.

Anywho, this might work for a kid too young for Goosebumps or with a short attention span, but I don't think this will affect many kids who don't scare easily.

2, it wasn't horrible but it did nothing for me, stars. Not highly recommended, but a quick read. You could do worse, though you could do better too. Maybe if each story was expanded to short story or book format, with world building and character development, but as it is written now? Not that impressed.

Author Adam Tierney states in his introduction to Afraid of Everything that his aim with this book is to bring SCARY back to kids' horror. This is an admirable goal; I wholeheartedly agree with his assertion that "horror isn't just appropriate for kids, it's ESSENTIAL." Which makes it all the more disappointing that his book didn't live up to his ambition of being truly scary kids' horror. Even when the stories themselves are eerie or frightening (which they often are, with wry, abrupt endings that call to mind Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark), Matthieu Cousin's art undercuts their tone. Based on the back matter, it seems that Cousin was aiming for creepy-cute, but most of the characters depicted as facing (and losing to) their fears don't look creepy or scared for their lives; they just look annoyed or flat-out bored. It's an odd, frustrating disconnect that makes this attempt at injecting some terror into kids' fiction fall flat.

Thanks to IDW and Netgalley for the digital ARC.

A fun scary lighthearted read for those looking for 5 minute horror stories in the same vein as Goosebumps. I like the style of matching each story to a specific fear and formatting it as though you were readying an alphabet book. The artwork is lovely and complements each story very well.

This is an abecedarian anthology of short stories based on phobias. In his introduction, author Adam Tierney’s states that this book was written because sometime between the1980s and today children’s stories stopped being scary and he wants to fix that with these stories aimed to scare children without traumatizing them by avoiding gory, sadistic, adult-themed horror, and instead focusing on fear, dread, risk, and doom. As an adult finishing my first month of work-from-home sequestration courtesy of the COVID-19 pandemic, I can’t say I really want any more fear, dread, risk, or doom in my life right now, but everyone handles these things differently, and there may indeed be a readership for this book right now.

Fortunately, these stories are significantly less scary than they are creepy, and many of them rely on implying something ooky or spooky has happened rather than saying it outright. This makes them a good exercise for confident young readers who are better at picking up dropped hints will encourage them to use their imaginations to determine the likely ending. For less confident readers who are less experienced in the structure and elements of storytelling, the “what happens next?” endings may feel dissatisfying because of their indefinite nature. After reading several stories in a row, the “twists” lost some a good deal of charm and the story for verminophobia was just an unfortunate read in these days of COVID-19. (Also, yuckiphobia is not a thing...it can’t even be found on Google: there were literally no results found, which casts suspicion over the veracity of other phobias included in this volume.)

Following zoophobia were eleven bonus stories with guest illustrators, as well as a behind-the-scenes peek. These eleven stories are in keeping with the twenty six chosen for the main body of the work, but apparently were added as bonuses through the fundraising process on Kickstarter. The behind-the-scenes look was about how this book got published, and after reading the book it makes sense that the author went with Kickstarter rather than pursuing the traditional path to publication. Unfortunately for readers, this means the book’s $19.99 price tag (in the US) feels like an overcharge to me.

I have not said much about the illustrations. They are bright and eye-catching and would make good tattoos, being both cartoonish and creepy with hidden details that invite further study. I expect they will appeal to young readers, however they definitely detract from the scary atmosphere Adam Tierney seemed to be shooting for (not that his stories achieved it anyway). It was reminiscent of The Fairly Odd Parents, style-wise, which is unsurprising when one considers Cousin has worked for Nickelodeon.The guest artists’ styles varied, but were all on the better end of average-for-a-professional, and were less vibrant than Cousin’s art.

A compendium of short stories to explain an A-Z index of different phobias. I thought it was just okay, I would have preferred more illustration and more of a comic tone to it rather than prose to describe the phobias.

A lovely little children's scary story book.

It covers some lesser known phobias so children will learn new things while also getting the scary story they desire.

Each phobia is covered in a very short story so it is perfect for quick reads with children (maybe not wise before bed!).

I'd have preferred the "bonus" stories to just sit within the main body of the book but, otherwise, a great addition to a children's book collection.

An artistic and more detailed update of Gorey's "The Gashlycrumb Tinies." It is a macabre and beautifully illustrated book for children, albeit perhaps older children.

Such a fun, unique book. In alphabetical order, different phobias are introduced along with a one page creepy story about that phobia. Every other page is a brightly colored, modern illustration. This would be an interesting book for an upper elementary through high school student.

A selection of cheap 'n' cheerful horror stories for kids, featuring people gaining powers at school, or suchlike relatable situations. The shtick is that each letter of the alphabet is given a phobia, and the holder of each fear would get their worst nightmare writ large in the page-long story (or poem) that follows. Oh, and you also get a pointless, gaudy artwork for each one, to make this look modern and funky and prestigious. I don't think the stories were funky in the modern sense, though, more the old – a lot were daft, and just seemed to posit a situation and grind to a halt. Yes, horror (especially for a young audience) will almost always gain by leaving something unsaid, but too much is left out here, especially when it comes to narrative logic. I liked the concrete poems, for want of a better name, that we get in the bonus section to close, but not a lot here felt special. Two and a bit stars.

Afraid of Everything is a good book that we all enjoyed but a kindle version would be so much easier!
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Fun!! Always looking for good new spooky stories for my students and this is perfect for them. Scary, but just not so scary that they'll have nightmares.