Tales to Frighten and Delight

by Pleasant DeSpain

Overview

Nine traditional scary stories from various parts of the world, including Japan, Uruguay, and other countries. Scary stories have always been popular, especially with children. And no wonder—hearing such stories heightens the imagination and keeps us alert. The fantasy brings adventure to our routine daily lives. And above all, hearing scary story allows us to face our fears and emerge unharmed. In the nine stories here, skeletons dance, cats talk, and greedy trolls are tricked by a simple innkeeper. The stories come from many traditions, including: Japan ("The Dancing Skeleton"), Uruguay ("The Hungry Witch"), the Sioux Nation ("The Ghost Wife"), and the Congo ("The Talking Skull").

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780874837124
Publisher:	August House Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	12/14/2005
Pages:	80
Product dimensions:	5.55(w) x 7.91(h) x 0.21(d)
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

About the Author

Pleasant DeSpain Bio: Pleasant DeSpain has a most unusual but true name and an equally unusual but true profession – writer and storyteller. He travels the world collecting, researching, writing and retelling traditional tales from native cultures. Born in Colorado, he wrote his first original story at age eight. It was published as “The Mystery Artist” in 1996. Pleasant taught speech-literature-drama for six years at three universities, and wrote-produced-hosted an award-winning TV show called “Pleasant Journeys” on KING TV, Seattle. Now, the author of eighteen award-winning, multicultural story collections and picture books, published by August House, has a home in Troy, NY and frequently travels to spend extended periods of time in Thailand. Pleasant continues to travel the world having amazing adventures. While living in Thailand he has continued to collect more stories and is working on a new book.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 3-5-Each of these volumes includes nine folktales that have been collected from a variety of cultures and grouped by genre. While most good collections will have many of these stories in one anthology or another, grouping them this way makes them more accessible to children who may be overwhelmed by an extensive collection. By the same token, these books may encourage some children to seek out the many older compilations to see how the retellings might differ. Small ink drawings appear in each chapter. The titles conclude with useful notes on each tale, including storytelling sources and suggestions. These new additions to the series are great for sharing in a class or to hand to reluctant readers.-Diane Olivo-Posner, Long Beach Public Library, CA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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