Scary Stories 3 - More Tales to Chill Your Bones
Author: Alvin Schwartz
Illustrations: Stephen Gammell
This series of children's horror stories was a favorite of my oldest son. He presented me with copies of the books as he was leaving to serve in the Navy. Nostalgia from his childhood. What he remembered the most was the creepy-cool artwork by Stephen Gammell. Imagine my horror when I found out (while I was re-reading the series) that when they reprinted the books as a 30th anniversary celebration, they changed the artwork. While Brett Helquist is a talented artist, what made this book series really great was the strange art by Gammell. Luckily, I have older copies of this series with the weird art intact. I investigated online and found examples of Helquists illustrations. They are great...more of a literal interpretation of the stories....but....it just isn't Scary Stories without Stephen Gammell. Not sure what the publisher was thinking!
Scary Stories 3 gathers 25 more stories from folklore. There are notes about the stories and a list of sources in the back. As in the prior books, the stories vary, even including a bit of poetry and a song. The artwork perfectly accompanies the creepy tales. All the tales are middle-grade friendly.
An excellent collection of scary stories! I will pass on the 30th Anniversary edition. This series stands out because of the original artwork by Gammell. My son remembers these books 17 years after we first read them because of Gammell's artwork. It isn't the same outstanding series without the original art. I'm glad I have the full collection with the original drawings. These definitely have a permanent home on my keeper shelf!
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