I have a love of short stories that I only discovered as an adult, which is a shame. I think one of the most satisfying things in the world is a well 
written short story and I think they’re wonderful if you (or your child) are not a big reader. For me it’s attention span or lack of time, and I appreciate having a complete story I can read in what time I can devote. If a longer book is daunting, a book of short stories is a great way to break it up into bite-sized parts. One of my favorite things about short stories is if you don’t love it, skip it! Maybe the next story is more to your liking, and hey – the whole book doesn’t feel like a waste.
No matter the time of year, I think horror is great for capturing a kid’s attention. Were you a kid who went nuts for Goosebumps? Were you scarred for life by Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz? I was! There’s something fantastic about *choosing* to be scared. So along those lines, here are 3 short story books for kids/teens with 13 chilling tales each.
Ghost: Thirteen Haunting Tales to Tell, by Illustrátus – This book is interesting because it sets up a premise as to why these thirteen tales are presented. Two boys at camp go see the reclusive groundskeeper at his house to hear the thirteen stories that are the only true ghost stories in the world. The stories are definitely on the tamer end of things, but still chilling. The book is fully illustrated, but it’s not nightmare fuel (like Scary Stories) unless your child is particularly soft-hearted. My favorites are “Depth” about a kid who goes diving into sunken ship to find his parents, and “The Descent” which is about a boy on an elevator.
Only If You Dare: 13 Stories of Darkness and Doom, by Josh Allen – This book seems to have more of a Twilight Zone vibe to the stories than Ghost does. I would say they’re longer than Ghost, but the book is smaller, the print bigger, etc – so the stories may be about the same length. That being said, there is a satisfying variety to the tales. “Lumpy, Lumpy” is a horrifyingly disgusting story about being haunted by a bowl of oatmeal and “Hi, Jenny.” is a story about a cell phone that’s like an episode of Black Mirror (but totally kid appropriate). Funny enough, both this one and Ghost feature stories about the library – and the one in Only If You Dare is quite ghastly.
His Hideous Heart: 13 of Edgar Allan Poe’s Most Unsettling Tales Reimagined, edited by Dahlia Adler. One of the things I love about this book is it has the originals in the back in addition to the retellings. While most are familiar stories, I admit there are a few I hadn’t read yet like “She Rode a Horse of Fire”/”Metzengerstein”, and it was nice to have the ready comparison. Some of these stories are so ingrained that we think we know them better than we do. When I re-read “The Tell-Tale Heart” after reading the retelling, I realized it was a much shorter span of time between the murder and confession than I remembered. If you love the retellings, maybe one will lead you to a new YA author to try, as several well-known YA horror authors are featured.
While thirteen is considered unlucky, hopefully that is not the case with these books! If you read all of these, you have 39 chances (52 with the Poe originals) to find your own love of scary short stories! Good luck and may the odds be ever in your favor!
~ Posted by Stephanie T.
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