Scaring and Daring: A Horror Writers Affiliation Anthology
Eric J. Guignard, ed.
Harper Collins Kids’s Books (August 12, 2025)
297 pgs.
Reviewed by Carson Buckingham
Anthologist extraordinaire, Eric J. Guignard, has completed it once more with this exemplary compilation of intriguing takes on traditional literature, which can be learn by kids and adults alike, every group taking one thing completely different away from it.
Listed here are my favorites:
“What We Discovered Beneath Mt. Etna” – Completely cherished this one. You’ll be able to’t go mistaken with Lisa Morton. This can be a tackle Jules Verne’s Journey to the Heart of the Earth, and is a couple of lacking youngster who has fallen right into a crevice that the locals declare is haunted. They won’t go to search for her, so Liesel and her Uncle Otto, two German adventurers, tackle the duty. What they discover is excess of they may have ever imagined. That is the primary story within the four-way tie for my favourite. Effectively completed, Ms. Morton!
“The Hound of the Basking Villas” – An homage to Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” On this story, a light-fingered, mystery-solving little lady inveigles a really younger Sherlock Holmes to assist her search for Paulie, a lacking boy, and examine a cemetery close to Basking Villas, a vacation resort the place each of them are staying. The hound seems within the story, however not within the capability the reader will count on. This can be a pretty story, fantastically written, and simply chock-full of folklore! The second story within the four-way tie for my favourite.
“The Misplaced Musketeer” – Anticipate the Spanish Inquisition. This thrilling story is a tribute to Alexandre Dumas and The Three Musketeers, and it’s swashbuckling with a facet of the paranormal. Dumas would have most heartily authorised.
“The Secret (Factor within the) Backyard” – An homage to Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Backyard. That is Burnett’s e-book in a minor key, with ominous chords fading out and in. It’s the story of a bunch of youngsters who have already got a secret backyard however wish to put in a paddling pool subsequent to it. However by eradicating the soil, they dig up extra than simply dust and are available to remorse it.
“A Fortunate Discover” – This can be a tackle Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. I’ve to say that I didn’t get pleasure from Mr. Melville’s e-book (I imply, how a lot do I really want to know in regards to the ins and outs of whaling?), however I adored this homage. A younger boy sneaks out at night time to discover a ships’ graveyard in Provincetown, Massachusetts. He finds what’s left of the Pequod and manages to pry free the gold doubloon that Ahab had nailed to the mast, bringing paranormal exercise with a nautical taste to the city. An ideal New England ghost story. A pleasant twist on the finish. The third story within the four-way tie for my favourite.
“The Boy of La Mancha Rides Once more” – On this fantastic prequel to Cervantes’ Don Quixote, we meet Alonso Quijano, a 13-year-old younger man obsessive about knights and chivalry, who decides that he should do one thing courageous to be seen by a knight so as to develop into a knight’s web page. He’ll rid the countryside of the ghost horse that has been terrorizing it. However the ghost horse involves imply one thing extra to him in the long run. Scary and heart-warming on the similar time. Nice job, Mr. Hernandez. This story is rated 5 windmills.
“The Glass Slipper” – On this homage to Charles Perrault’s “Cinderella,” we see {that a} mere shoe can’t actually elevate the wearer from a no person to a anyone. Nice twist on the finish.
“Wolf within the Mirror” – On this tackle The Jungle Ebook by Rudyard Kipling, we discover that Mr. Kipling has adopted the jungle boy, Mowgli. One night time, their carriage is stopped by none apart from Alice, who has escaped from Wonderland, and asks for his or her assist. A mix of Lewis Carroll and Rudyard Kipling and a healthy dose of the paranormal, and you’ve got one terrific story! The fourth story in my four-way tie for my favourite.
“Freckle and Cover” – Robert Louis Stevenson would have been happy with Jonathan Maberry and his homage to The Unusual Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. A younger boy, Freckle (referred to as so as a result of he’s lined with them), and his canine, Cover (as a result of that’s all he does), are part of the household heredity that his father, a scientist, is attempting to do one thing about. Good twist on the finish.
“Out on a Limb” – A tribute to Eleanor H. Porter’s Pollyanna. The very definition of a feel-good story with simply the correct amount of treacle.
“The Gruelmaster” – On this homage to Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, we meet a nine-year-old named George, who takes up the story after Oliver strikes on as a result of he requested for extra. He will get a job within the kitchen, to be nearer to the meals, and discovers that there’s greater than meets the attention in regards to the two girls who’re his bosses.
This e-book is touted for kids 8-12. Center Grade. The idea is a good one, however it’s extremely unlikely that kids that age could have been uncovered to a lot of the literature that’s getting used as a base for these takes on classics. Not that they’ll’t benefit from the tales anyway. They are going to. Nevertheless, with the focused age group, the cleverness of the homages will probably be misplaced on most of those kids. However adults can learn and benefit from the ingenious takes on the classics as retold. There’s something for everybody.
The one actual subject I had with this e-book is that it isn’t constructed to final, and that’s on Harper Collins. The paper is little higher than newsprint high quality and can most assuredly fox inside a brief time period, resulting in the chipping and the last word destruction of pages. That is most unlucky. I nonetheless personal books from my childhood (and that was 60 years in the past) that I cherished and are nonetheless intact and in nice form. I concern this one received’t see these children to their highschool commencement.
At any price, apart from the poor high quality of the paper, I’m blissful to induce you to buy this e-book. It’s properly value studying, it doesn’t matter what your age, and can be an awesome Christmas present for the child in your life—so significantly better than extra electronics and video video games!
5 out of 5 stars.
About Carson Buckingham
Professionally, Carson Buckingham has made her approach in life doing all method of issues, most of which contain arson. She is at present employed as a contract author on a piece launch program. In her spare time, she research forensics, in hopes of making use of her new information to eluding the authorities extra successfully the subsequent time.
She is initially from Connecticut, however now resides in Kentucky—and Connecticut is glad to be rid of her.
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