Four Scary Stories

Throughout thirty four years of teaching primary age children this book is one of my and the children's all time favourite literature selections. Its very format - four amusing stories within a larger story - is an interesting departure from the usual, introducing young readers to an effective technique for building a longer, more complex story. Tony Johnston's language is rich, in places almost poetic, and most certainly filled with colourful words such as 'smithereens' and 'dither'. As a teaching tool it is a treasure trove for punctuating the delightfully argumentative dialogue of the transitional episodes, as well as finding synonyms for that much overused word 'said'. The cartoon-like drawings of Tomie de Paola are fun to recreate and use as a starting point for creating our own drawings of 'things', though pretzel monsters are a great art project too. Best of all, the notion of three little monsters telling BOY stories to frighten each other is a captivating and motivating slant for the male children in my class. That's not to say there is any lack of interest for 'Four Scary Stories' amongst the girls, who love it too. This story occupies a beloved place in our own family lore as my grown daughter reads it aloud to her child, delighting in quoting the scalawag's famous giggle, "I've never had a bath, and I never will!" at bath time. So glad to have found copies of this 'out of print' book available - though I imagine there is now another generation of children who would delight in a reprint - and teachers who would enjoy using it as a vehicle for practicing that tricky and complex skill - punctuating for quotation marks.

There are few books that my kids remember as fondly as "Four Scary Stories", but it is a keeper that everyone loves ~ a pleasure for adults to read and fun for kids to listen to....

I have three young boys and they always fine this story fun to read or have read to them. They like to see the tables turned and the BOY giving the goblin, imp and scalawag their owen medicine. Good for Halloween or anytime of year. If you like this you might also try the "Vanishing Pumpkin" from the duo of Tony Johnson and Tomie Depaola.