In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories (I Can Read! Reading 2)
Grade 1&ndash;3&mdash;This collection of short stories (HarperCollins, 1984) retold by Alvin Schwartz are just creepy enough to give youngsters shivers without causing nightmares. The seven tales were collected from a variety of sources and include some classics such as "The Green Ribbon" (holding on a severed head) and "The Night It Rained" (a man discovers that his hitchhiker was a ghost). Dirk Zimmer performs the stories in a sepulchral tone with a measured pace and different voices for the characters. Background music is light and seems deliberately designed to lessen the scary mood. This Level 2 I Can Read book is perfect for younger children who are constantly pestering the librarian for "something scary."&mdash;Teresa Bateman, Brigadoon Elementary School, Federal Way, WACopyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to an alternatePaperbackedition.