A Newbery Halloween : A Dozen Scary Stories by Newbery Award-Winning Authors
Grade 3 Up-A collection of short stories and excerpts of novels by Newbery-winning authors. This anthology is similar in style to the editors' A Newbery Christmas (Delacorte, 1991). Here they present 12 enthralling tales that include delightfully humorous Halloween escapades from characters such as Beverly Cleary's Ramona and Eleanor Estes's Moffat family, side by side with eerie ghost stories from Paul Fleischman and Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. Not every selection has a strict Halloween theme. For example, Arthur Bowie Chrisman's "Ah Tcha the Sleeper" is actually a retelling of a Chinese tale explaining the origin of tea, and Madeleine L'Engle's "Poor Little Saturday" tells of strange goings-on in a deserted Georgia plantation house. However, they are united into a cohesive whole by their shared elements of mystery and supernatural activity. Perfect for reading aloud, the stories evoke a feeling of nostalgia and anticipation. An appendix includes biographical information about the authors and commentaries about their work; sources for the selections are also noted.Mary Jo Drungil, Niles Public Library, ILCopyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.