Julie Winterbottom

This is a fun book that kids, especially boys, will love. It tells about scary things, scary places and includes scary stories from around the world from A to Z. I can just hear my grandson sharing some of these stories around the fire-pit. Are you afraid of spiders? claustrophobic? Have you ever seen a ghost? Do you believe ghosts exist? The section about ghosts, ghost hunting and famous ghosts was quite interesting and with all the shows about ghosts and ghost hunting on television it is show more sure to interest the reader. The Island of the Dolls just plain freaked me out. There is so much to learn about and to freak out a reader. Are the killer bees coming? Watch out for the Flesh eating plant? Have you ever participated in a seance or used a Oujia board? I love the Horrifying How-Tos? Kids will love to try some of these ideas. So many more things in this book. I recommend this book to school and public libraries. What a great way to get reluctant readers hooked on reading.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review. show less

Frightlopedia is an encyclopedia about not only ghosts, haunted houses, monsters and mummies, but also about killer bees, rats, sharks, UFOs, catacombs, flesh eating plants, and more. Each entry has a score from 1 to 3 in the "fright meter" to let you know how scary it is, so you can decide if you want to read it, or maybe just skip it. So while the fear of being buried alive is a 3, fake wounds are only a 1.
The approach of the author is that it's fun to be a little scared when we know you show more are not truly in danger, but being too scary is not funny at all, and it is also unnecessary. The text is also humorous, making the whole experience less scary. At the same time we tend to be less scared of things when we know more about them, and understand better when a fear is actually unreasonable, and also how we can avoid situations that are potentially dangerous.
The book is thoroughly illustrated, and it counts with "Horrifying how-tos", which are little projects like make the house look haunted, paint a vampire bite in your neck, or write your own ghost story.

Age range: Although the writing can be perfectly understood by a 8 years old kid, it also depends on how easily the kid gets scared. In the overall I would say that the goal of the book is not to terrify the reader, and most of the kids won't. But I understand parents should asses if their kids might find it enjoyable or not. I read many entries with my 8 years old daughter, and she found the book amusing.

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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This is a great read for kids. It's full of scary stories, true ghost stories, vampires, monsters, and even true facts about spiders. I enjoyed it with the kids.

The funniest grossest craziest NOT MEAN pranks on the planet.