Triple-Dare to Be Scared

Scary stories are a perennial favorite among youngsters, and Robert D. San Souci obliges them with 13 more spine-tingling horror stories in Triple-Dare to Be Scared. Each elegantly crafted vignette draws readers into the life of a young person like themselves just as a bad decision or an act of fate brings the characters face-to-face with the supernatural. Each story hurtles through twists and turns toward a surprise ending much more compelling than in a traditional spook story. “Second Childhood” wonders where to take shelter from a recently awakened child-ghost? (Answer: Not its former home!) “Plat-Eye” features twins who learn why they should be afraid of a big, bad shapechanger who’s paying a little too much attention to them. “Far Site” expands a video game into something much larger — and more frightening! “Field of Nightmares” turns an innocent baseball game on old man Fletcher’s field into a fight for life. These exciting stories feature children of various ethnicities taking on all manner of threats from beyond the grave — and beyond logic — while David Ouimet’s creepy illustrations add that extra twinge of terror.