The August House Book of Scary Stories: Spooky Tales for Telling Out Loud

Scary stories drawn from history and local legends.

Scary stories: everybody loves to hear them, and everybody loves to tell them. They are popular for sharing in many settings--campouts, sleepovers, classroom or youth-group gatherings--as well as just plain fun to read. Selected especially for appeal to upper-elementary and middle-school students, each story has been crafted through multiple performances in school and library settings. Stories include traditional folktales, local legends, and original stories; some have historical settings and some are set in current times. All are sure to engage the most reluctant reader.

According to authors Richard and Judy Dockrey Young, "Scary stories help children face fear and master it by portraying the elements of conflict in clear, good-versus-evil terms, with good triumphant in the end." This essential spooky collection includes: stories from traditional cultures, jump tales, urban legends, tips for telling the stories, thematic groupings for easy references and profiles for the contributing storytellers.

Liz Smith Parkhurst:

Liz became interested in telling stories as a child when she realized she could scare her cousins. It wasn't until she was older that she discovered storytelling as a profession and realized her dad had been telling stories all her life. Her work in story is both oral and written, and she enjoys telling and writing stories that she would want to hear and read: folk tales, fairy tales, fantasies, and histories but ones that are more than just names and numbers. She loves history that comes to life to explain the way we live and why we do things we do. She also performs many historical stories and creates living history experiences for the classrooms.Liz's work as a storyteller has taken her all around the United States, Canada, and Ireland. Her historical programs include the American Civil War, the Middle Ages, the Dust Bowl, and Life in Colonial America. She is always happy to do readings of her books and conduct writing workshops as well. She works with all ages in a variety of venues. The main goal of Liz's work as a storyteller and author is to create legacy and teach.