# ID this children's horror anthology? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 8, 2001, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-childrens-horror-anthology/61264 "2001-04-08T17:59:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2001, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-childrens-horror-anthology/61264/1 "2001-04-08T17:59:09Z")
Back when I was a wee lad I had a book of horror stories for children. I don’t remember the title, but it had stories about a patchwork monkey that came to life, a cockatrice, and about a kid whose father invented a machine that would let them fly, but they found a giant squid living in the clouds above their city. There was also one about a creature that grew larger when it was exposed to light. Does anyone know the title? -Ben¿ ---
**Author:** ![Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2001, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-childrens-horror-anthology/61264/2 "2001-04-08T18:05:33Z")
Oops- obviously this belongs in GQ, not IMHO… -Ben ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2001, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-childrens-horror-anthology/61264/3 "2001-04-08T18:30:57Z")
**Moderator’s note:** No problem; over it goes. TVeblen for IMHO ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2001, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-childrens-horror-anthology/61264/4 "2001-04-08T19:10:52Z")
Geez, offhand, NONE of those plotlines sound familiar. It would help if you told us WHEN you were a wee lad. In the early '50s? The late '80s? Was it a new book when you had it, or did you pick it up at a library sale? What was the age range (illustrated or not)? Was it an anthology (stories by a whole buncha authors) or a collection (all by one writer)? Maybe **Mjollnir** will come by and nail it for you…I’m still impressed how quickly he identified William Steele’s THE SPOOKY THING for me. ---
**Author:** ![Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2001, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-childrens-horror-anthology/61264/5 "2001-04-08T22:18:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike \* > \*\* > It would help if you told us WHEN you were a wee lad. In the early '50s? The late '80s? \*\* This was around 1980. The book was new, was for 10-14 year olds or so, and was illustrated. The book wasn’t an anthology, in the sense that all the stories seemed to be written for the book, rather than collected from other sources. I’m not sure if they were all by the same author, though. -Ben ---
**Author:** ![Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2001, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-childrens-horror-anthology/61264/6 "2001-04-09T18:55:01Z")
bump… -Ben ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2001, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-childrens-horror-anthology/61264/7 "2001-04-09T19:16:35Z")
I was a wee lad aroudn the same time, and remember fondly a horror collection called “Scary stories to tell in the Dark.” I don’t recall any of the specific stories, but it was a pretty popular book, at least among my circle of friends. There was also a sequel or two (“More Scary Stories…” and I think “Still More…”) No idea if it’s the same one, but just trying to help… (A web search would probably tell me whether I was right or not, but I’m far too lazy.) ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2001, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-childrens-horror-anthology/61264/8 "2001-04-09T21:58:30Z")
IIRC, the series **gonzoron** is talking about were anthologies of ghost stories, with a fair mix of grotesque/kinda scary ULs thrown in for good measure. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2001, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-childrens-horror-anthology/61264/9 "2001-04-10T03:41:10Z")
So I’m not the only one who read the Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz. [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com)’s got all his books, and yeah, they were pretty grotesque. Stephen Gammell’s illustrations gave me nightmares. Anyway, having read most, if not all, of Schwartz’s books, I’m pretty sure that he’s not the author of the book **Ben** ’s looking for. Some of those plotlines do sound familiar to me, but I think that’s just because there were similar elements in short stories by Stephen King and J. Michael Stracyznski.