Double-Dare to Be Scared

The success of the first Dare to Be Scared collection of spooky stories inspired this second volume of equally creepy tales. Typical is "Mountain Childers," in which two strange skinny children — the "childers" of the title — crash young Daniel Freed's vacation in the lonesome mountains of Kentucky. When the older couple that was his hosts disappear and he hears laughter from the "childers," who have gotten surprisingly fat, Daniel knows there's trouble. When they follow him home, he wonders if he's going to be next on the menu! Their offer — really a command — to walk him to school is the last thing Daniel wants to hear. Written in Robert San Souci's trademark realistic style for maximum jitters, and illustrated with David Ouimet's eerie black-and-white drawings, this volume includes ghost stories, science fiction, dark fantasy, and "jump" stories for reading aloud with friends or alone on a stormy night.