Rochelle Larkin

The 8th issue of Fright Night collects another 3 stories to scare young readers. This one has zombies, evil electricity-eating power-line monsters, and a cursed island.

The book feels very dated. A couple times a Walkman is mentioned, for example, so this might hinder modern kids from fully connecting to the stories. The book feels more like a novelty now. I think adult readers who read them or similar things as kids will enjoy reading it for nostalgic purposes, but it might not be the best show more choice all young readers today.

Still, I remember reading Zombie Zone as a young boy and being quite terrified by it! show less

I had mixed feelings about this book. There wasn't necessarily a main concept. Instead, it was a collection of tradition literature stories, which include a range of themes and morals. What I really liked about this chapter book was that it kept me engaged. For example, reading Cinderella, I thought I knew what was going to happen, but this traditional version included two separate balls! What I did not like about this book was the vocabulary. It definitely made it feel true to narratives, show more but it was also very hard to understand at times. I felt that I had to reread sections a few times, which would be an issue if this were to be used in the classroom. For example, the Princess Mayblossom story uses words such as "Alas." Some of the other stories would be able to be used, but I don't think I would use all stories in my classroom because of some of the vocabulary and syntax. show less

I liked this book for two reasons. First, the language is descriptive. For example, “as he looked down the chimney, he saw the big kettle of boiling water the pigs had set out to make their dinner” is descriptive and allows me to see the character looking down the chimney to see a pot of hot bubbling water. Second, the illustrations enhance the story. The illustrations enhance the story due to the detail. The illustrations allow readers to see strokes of hair on the wolf and the splint show more of wood on the wooden door. Also, the illustrations allow readers to see facial expressions that may not be easily visualized otherwise. The message of this story is that three minds are better than one. The first and second time the wolf tried to blow the house down, he succeeded because the lonesome pig in each house was not ready. By the third attempt, all three of the pigs were together and put their minds together to defeat the wolf. show less

This book also contains several classics that I was familiar with. However, I never read “The Brave Little Princess”. It was about a princess who one day met a crow that asked her to come and keep him company and to help him break a curse that was inflicted upon him and his house. The crow told her that at night she had to be brave and not yell or scream when she heard or seen things for this would only delay his curse. The brave princess did and after seven years the curse was broken show more and he became a Prince and his household was returned to the way it was before.

I enjoyed it and have to admit that it scared me a bit when weird things would happen at night. The thing that was surprising to me was when it mentioned evil spirits. Even though that is only mentioned, once and briefly, it kind of threw me off and I wondered if I would read that to a class. I thought that maybe it would bring up too many questions or even scare the kids, but that is just my opinion.

In the classroom, I do not think that I would use this story. However, if I did use this story, I would be creative and want to use the students imagination. I would ask the students to draw a picture of what the house looked like during the curse or even to draw me a picture of what they thought the crow looked like. I think it would be a good opportunity for the students to be creative with drawing and help them appreciate the story more and remember it more. show less