Night Terrors: Stories of Shadow and Substance - Hardcover

Duncan, Lois

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 068980346X ISBN 13: 9780689803468

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 1996

Synopsis

A collection of eleven original stories about the dark features chilling works by Joan Aiken, Alane Ferguson, Madge Hurrah, Annette Curtis Klause, Chris Lynch, Harry Mazer, Norma Fox Mazer, Joan Lowry Nixon, Richard Peck, Ted Taylor, and Patricia Windsor.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

These 11 new stories from award-winning authors of YA mysteries may be set at night but are hardly bedtime reading: Patricia Windsor (``Moon Kill') and Theodore Taylor (``Grind of an Ax'') offer some traditional homicidal maniacs; ghosts in Chris Lynch's ``Bearing Paul'' and Richard Peck's ``Girl at the Window'' lure young people into deadly danger; and Annette Curtis Klause puts a real ``Bogey Man'' in the basement for her unfortunate eight-year-old character to find. Not all of the stories contain supernatural elements--to Harry Mazer's sullen, unnamed lad, the power a loaded gun brings is a ``Beautiful Thing''--or even terror: A seemingly disembodied voice in Norma Fox Mazer's ``The House on Buffalo Street'' leads an unhappy tenant to a new friend, and in Joan Aiken's ``Monkey's Wedding,'' a quirky nonagenarian loses her son, foils a gang of thieves, and gains a great-grandson, all in the same evening. The authors append comments on short story writing and high points in their careers. A sturdy collection, short on gore and explicit violence, long on suspense and imagination. (Short stories. 9-14) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly

Asked to produce short stories with the theme of night and terror, 11 prominent YA mystery writers have eagerly taken the road less traveled. Particularly spooky is "The Bogey Man" by Annette Curtis Klause, who makes a good argument for building houses without cellars. In Theodore Taylor's "The Grind of an Axe," a family advertises for a Scandinavian nanny?and gets an axe-wielding Viking relative instead. "Bearing Paul" by Chris Lynch is a searing portrait of a boy required to be a pallbearer at his friend's funeral. Joan Lowery Nixon examines urban horrors with a story about a girl initiated into a teen gang; unfortunately, her slangy dialogue is hard-going. Other contributors are Patricia Windsor, Richard Peck, Harry Mazer, Norma Fox Mazer, Alane Ferguson, Joan Aiken and Madge Harrah?all of whom find plenty of room to spread their dark and sinister wings. Ages 12-up. (June) FYI: A portion of the proceeds from the sales of this book will be donated to the Young Adult Library Services Association of the ALA.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 068980346X
• ISBN 13: 9780689803468
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176