Haunted House: A Collection of Original Stories FROM THE PUBLISHER
Come in . . . if you dare. . . .Every kid who has ever lived in the house at 66 Brown's End agrees that it is haunted; but no one agrees on the kind of haunting that goes on there. Lyssa hears a strange crying in the night coming from the basement in Mary K. Whittington's "Somewhere a Puppy Cries." In Bruce Coville's "Biscuits of Glory," Benji Perkins encounters a spirit in the kitchen. Jason is taunted by a mischievous bathroom ghost in "And the Light Flickered" by Barbara Diamond Goldin. While the spooks in these seven mysterious tales may lurk in different rooms, the fear is always the same. Grown-up always make excused, but the children known the haunting is real.
Jane Yolen and Martin H. Greenberg, editor of Things That Go Bumb In The Night, Vampires, and Werewolves, have assembled another creepy collection of stories that will have readers wondering just what that strange noise in the next room really was.
Author Biography: Jane Yolen has written and edited many books for children, including The Girl Who Loved the Wind, Owl Moon, and The Seeing Stick. Dr. Yolen (she received an honorary degree for her writing) taught children's literature at Smith College and is a much sought after speaker and lecturer. She is past president of the Science Fiction Writers of America, has served on the board of directors of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators since its inception, and is a founding member of the Bay State Writers Guild. She has been the recipient of several prestigious writing awards including the Kerlan Award and the Regina Medal. Ms. Yolen lives in Hatfield, Massachusetts with herhusband, David Stemple. She is the mother of three grown children.
FROM THE CRITICS
Children's Literature - Kathleen Karr
This book is a collection of original stories-obviously inspired by the R.L. Stine craze- broadly centered around children's ghostly encounters with one old house and its many owners. The quality of imagination varies considerably, but Bruce Coville's "Biscuits of Glory" is worth the price of admission. Benjie meets a disembodied Elvira Thistledown whipping up biscuits in his kitchen at midnight. Her story, and how he frees her from her curse, is full of life and delight.
School Library Journal
Gr 3-5Amityville has nothing on The Close at 66 Brown's End. Each story in this spooky collection is set in a different room as a succession of owners encounter otherworldly housemates. In the kitchen, a cursed cook bakes highly unusual biscuits. An invisible puppy cries in the basement. A ghostly electric train runs in the attic. The connecting theme works well, although some readers may wonder why the house changed hands so many times. The short original tales range from chuckles to chillers and are reminiscent of campfire storytelling. Appropriately scary, photoreal black-and-white drawings accompany each selection. With no gratuitous violence or gore, this is a fine alternative to popular horror series.Elaine E. Knight, Lincoln Elementary Schools, IL
BookList - Chris Sherman
Readers who like R. L. Stine's Goosebumps series will thoroughly enjoy Yolen and Greenberg's latest collection of original scary stories. The premise is intriguing: over the years, seven families have moved into the house at 66 Brown's End, and each time, a child has discovered a different ghost. Yolen, Bruce Coville, Barbara Goldin, Mary Whittington, Janet Gill, and Anna and Gary Hines have loaded the house from "basement to attic with spirits of all sorts--from abandoned ghost puppies to an insatiable gourmet ghost. The stories are all wonderful--eerie and unsettling enough to be satisfying, but lightened with humor. A great collection for young horror fans.
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