I used to read this book ALL THE TIME when I was a kid. I reread it again today before I reread the Scary Stories trilogy. I can still vividly remember “The Green Ribbon” from when I was little and I still adore that story and this book. Some of my favorite short stories.

This was my first scary story book. My favorite was Jenny with the ribbon around her neck. Kate's job was to yell "AND THEN HER HEAD FELL OFF!!" very scary...

This book is a short collection of ghost stories aimed for the middle grade audience. It is a pretty quick read and I've had it in my TBR for a pretty long time so I figured "why not?" I'm obviously not part of the intended audience so I didn't find any of the stories particularly scary. Another reviewer pointed out that it was the illustrations that provided the "spooky factor" and not so much the stories themselves. I'm inclined to agree. However, I did like "The Green Ribbon" the best because the ending was unexpected and a little funny to me and Jenny looked a lot like Anne from the Anne of Green Gables series (one of my favourite fictional characters). I think this book is great for young readers especially the ones who find a thrill in being a little scared.

i think about this book all the time :,) it was a childhood favorite

Grew up with the original 1984 version and its spooky illustrations. Just bought an ebook copy of the reillustrated edition to share with the kids. Still has fun illustrations, but they are definitely in a different style. I would almost say a little less spooky.

"The Green Ribbon" is by far my favorite of the stories. "In a Dark, Dark Room" and "The Night it Rained" are close seconds, although every story is pretty great in my opinion.

Re-reading after seeing the recent movie -- also, to share with Joy. She liked the repetition in the title story and I loved revisiting old book loves. Loved the intro, pretty sure I used a quote from it in a paper once. Paraphrasing -- "We like scary stories because we can safely scare ourselves."

Recommend.

F&P level J. Too scary for my toddler but honestly would be a good high interest book for low level readers (maybe if you cover that 2 on the cover or photocopy the pages).