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Living Ghosts and Mischievous Monsters: Chilling American Indian Stories by Dan SaSuWeh Jones
jenmangler's review against another edition
4.0
I was expecting to be a bit freaked out by the ghost stories (because even though I'm not sure I believe in ghosts I am afraid of them somehow?), but I actually found them moving. One of them, The Boy Who Watched Over the Children, actually made me cry. I also was very moved by My Brother, Last of the Crow Men. As for the rest, I'm glad I read them in the daylight, because there are a few super creepy stories that would have messed me up if I'd read them at night. I very much enjoyed this short story collection, even though scary/spooky/creepy isn't typically my thing.
saidtheraina's review against another edition
5.0
Like [b: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark|1325218|Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (Scary Stories, #1)|Alvin Schwartz|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1440189576l/1325218._SX50_.jpg|145600]? Try this!
I'm not someone who typically seeks out horror stories. But I try to read broadly so I have a variety of genres to take to my regular school visits. And I'm always looking for media that comes from underrepresented, marginalized groups. So this book lives at the intersection of several things I'm looking for.
It's also an interesting one to categorize. Although it has a lot of Scary Stories-like appeal, the publisher (Scholastic) is really the only thing about it that specifically seems to target kids. Jones includes a contextual introduction, and the writing style speaks to adults just as well as to kids. Our library put this in our Adult collection, and it truly has appeal for probably 4th grade through adult. Jones' work of collecting these stories should be valued. And somehow putting this in the kids area would feel like it was being taken less seriously than it feels sitting on the adult shelf. But kids will like it.
The book is split into five categories: Ghosts, Spirits, Witches, Monsters, and The Supernatural. Your mileage will vary as far as creepiness goes. There were definitely some that gave me chills. Each story is accompanied with an illustration, which also vary in creep-factor.
I'll probably take this out to middle schools next time I visit them.
I'm not someone who typically seeks out horror stories. But I try to read broadly so I have a variety of genres to take to my regular school visits. And I'm always looking for media that comes from underrepresented, marginalized groups. So this book lives at the intersection of several things I'm looking for.
It's also an interesting one to categorize. Although it has a lot of Scary Stories-like appeal, the publisher (Scholastic) is really the only thing about it that specifically seems to target kids. Jones includes a contextual introduction, and the writing style speaks to adults just as well as to kids. Our library put this in our Adult collection, and it truly has appeal for probably 4th grade through adult. Jones' work of collecting these stories should be valued. And somehow putting this in the kids area would feel like it was being taken less seriously than it feels sitting on the adult shelf. But kids will like it.
The book is split into five categories: Ghosts, Spirits, Witches, Monsters, and The Supernatural. Your mileage will vary as far as creepiness goes. There were definitely some that gave me chills. Each story is accompanied with an illustration, which also vary in creep-factor.
I'll probably take this out to middle schools next time I visit them.
mshiiken's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
5.0
What a wonderful collection of scary tales! I'm very glad I read this in the daytime. :)