Book Talk|SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK (2020)

Hello book lovers, 

My name is Alin and welcome to my channel. Today I am going to talk about ‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’, so grab your popcorn and your soft drink and let’s see how scary this book is.

 

Who is the author of this collection of books?

• • I know. This book is for Halloween but I think it’s a great book to start with on this channel. First of all, who is the author of this collection of books? His name is Alvin Schwartz and he has written books on various topics like folklore, wordplay and so on. But he is best known for his collection of three books  ‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’, which were published during the 1980s and 1990s.

 

What is this book about?

• The first book from this collection, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, was published in 1981 and this is the book I am going to review today.  I have to tell you that I read the stories on my way to Bucharest and I read it again on a Sunday evening when I did not have anything to do. 
• As you can imagine by now, these stories were written with the purpose to scare the hell out of the reader. That’s why this book has been criticized as being unsuitable for children and some parent groups have tried to remove this book from school libraries in the united states
•  What I like about the book is that the reader or the person who is telling the stories is guided on how to tell these stories. So, if you want to scare someone, the best time to tell the stories is during the night and you should speak softly and tell the stories slowly.
• My favourite stories in this book are Big Toe, Alligators, The Hook, High Beams, The Babysitter, while the funny scary stories The Viper and The Attic. I am not going to tell you what are these stories about but I will give you a taste of it by retelling one of the stories later in the video. So please don’t be too hard on me.

Is the book easy to read?

• The book is written in plain English, and it takes an hour to read, so no time to get bored. The stories are not very complicated,, they don’t have lots of descriptions to make you forget the plot, and most of them are interesting and fun.

Who is this book written for/ who I would recommend it?

• This is definitely a book for children and teens. I don’t think adults would enjoy it as much as children but I believe this book should be read by parents who want to know more about their children and what kind of things they like.

How would I rate this book?

• If I would rate this book 5/5, I believe the author achieved his goal and he helped us to become better storytellers. I think children who love books, they would really enjoy this one, if they are reading during the night, they will definitely get some thrills.

Which is better the movie, the written book or the audiobook?

• If you would ask me which one is better, the movie, the audiobook or the written book, I would recommend you listening to the audiobook first because of the great storytelling. Then I would recommend you to read the book because you can use your imagination to create the worlds described there and because the movie didn’t convince me even if it had its good parts.

What was my favourite story?

Now it’s time to retell one story from the book  –  Big Toe

• Once upon a time, there was a little boy who was digging in his back garden and as he was digging he found this big toe in the ground. He picked it up and went back inside to show it to his mother. She said ‘it looks very nice, I will put it in the soup and we will eat it later’ for dinner.
• When his father came home, they got their dinner together and he decided to cut the toe into three pieces, so everyone can have a piece. They ate their dinner, cleaned their dishes and they went to bed.
• During the night, the little boy starts to hear some noises outside that awake him straight away. He ignores them and goes back to sleep but after an hour or so, he hears some sounds again inside the house and a voice saying: Where is my to-o-o-o-o-e? 
• And the boy was  very scared about what might happen to him and he thought he could hide under his bed and no one will find him
• But then he heard this voice again but now getting closer: Where is my to-o-o-o-o-e? 
• And the boy barricaded himself under his bed, closed his eyes and said to himself that it was only a nightmare.
• But then again he heard the voice on the hallway: Where is my to-o-o-o-o-o-e? and he could hear footsteps like someone was coming to his bedroom.
• The boy started to cry and pray that someone will help him. And then the door to his bedroom opened and he could hear the footsteps of someone stopping in front of his bed
• Where is my t-o-o-o-o-o-e?” (Pause)  ‘You’ve got it.

Next time I will talk about how you can increase confidence by asking a bookshop assistant three questions.

So don’t forget to hit that like button, add a comment and subscribe to my channel to see new videos every week. 

See ya!