As you read the reviews on Bookshop Talk, you'll notice that every review is positive. No, we're not a bunch of literary
pushovers who love everything we pick up; we just see no point in telling you about a book if we didn't like it.

October 9, 2012

SEVEN STRANGE AND GHOSTLY TALES by Brian Jacques, 1991

Filled with humor, adventure, and imagination, these seven short stories go from the lighthearted to the bizarre. From a teenager who drives a museum curator to mummify him for signing Phantom Snake (an anagram of his name) all over his exhibits, to a boy who's dared to visit the tomb of a vampire at midnight only to discover that the vampire boy he meets has a mother who nags just like his own, the eerie and chilling settings and characters will captivate readers. (Goodreads)

Review by Emily, basically a bibliophile

This anthology is typical of Brian Jacques' works - funny, clever, and spine-tingling, and also sometimes strange.

There's a story about an unfortunate graffiti artist's fate when he messes with the wrong museum attendant. I read this one late at night one summer years ago, and stayed under the covers watching every shadow for the old man I was sure would come get me for scribbling on my bunk boards the day before.
  
The story about how vampire's mothers are perhaps not so very different in their nagging than a rebellious teen's own mother, which was amusing but also strangely chilling -
  
The tale of a girl with split personalities, who steals something that cannot be stolen, from an old lady whose story intertwines with a tragedy of epic proportions -
  
The hilarious adventures of Henry Mawdsley, the world's greatest liar, who dares to lie to Old Nick himself, and also to the Angel Gabriel -
  
A story that could almost be called a fairy tale, about a girl named Bridgey, her ducks, her mean old Uncle Sully, and a strange creature named the Grimblett, who lives beneath the water of her pond -
  
A haunting story about the ghost of a boy named Gilly Bodkin, who only wanted some sweets -
  
And the strange tale of what happens when the descendant of a school's founder is bullied by the older kids in school.
  
You should read them.
  
You'll find yourself fascinated.

Market: Young Adult
Language: None
Sensuality: None
Violence: Very little
Mature Themes: Bullying, lying

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I got my copy from a thrift shop years ago, and have loved it ever since. The stories in here are so good some of them could be turned into a children's style 'Tales from the Crypt' series in my opinion. Especially the Phantom Snake... one of my personal favourites to read on the bus going home.

10/10. Would recommend.