A collection of ghost stories, spooky shorts, and frightening folktales from all over the world, perfect for scary sleepovers, staying up all night, or reading alone under the covers--if you dare

"No one travels these roads after dark. Those who are found the next day, if they are still alive, will have gone mad."

Chills and thrills to make your flesh crawl with fear Turn the lights down low and grab your favorite reading chair. But first, you'd better check behind you. . . .

Ghosts, monsters, murders, and madmen These thirty stories...

Blessed Mary rewards Teresa's good deeds with a shining gold star. Later she punishes Teresa's unkind stepsisters, Isabel and Inez, with hideous horns and donkey's ears that they try to hide under heavy veils But will Teresa outshine her stepsisters at the festival? Robert D. San Souci retells this popular folktale in a lilting narrative that includes all the magic of the beloved Cinderella story and traditional elements from Spanish tales. Luminous watercolors by Sergio Martinez accentuate the beauty and goodness that radiate from Little Gold Star.

A Selection of the...

You may think you already know this story about a beautiful servant girl, a cruel stepmother, a magnificent ball, and a lost slipper. But you've never heard it for true.
Now you can hear the tale from someone who was there: a poor washerwoman from the island of Martinique. She has just one thing in the world to love, her goddaughter Cendrillon. When she finds Cendrillon heartsick over a rich man's son, at first she doesn't know what to do. But she has sharp wits, a strong will, and the magic wand her mother left her -- and soon she has a plan to give her dear Cendrillon the gift of a love...

Sukey's new step-pa is a mean, bossy man. Every day Sukey wakes at dawn to work in the garden. All her step-pa ever does is watch her and yell if she so much as stops to fan herself. Sukey's ma calls him Mister Jones. Sukey prefers the name "Mister Hard-Times."
Son one day, Sukey runs away to her secret place by the ocean. There, she calls up Mama Jo, a beautiful black mermaid. Mama Jo's got a surprise for Sukey; a magical kingdom beneath the sea without time or pain. But it's also without people. Is it really better than the world above?

Margaret has a brave heart. She dreams of adventure and longs to travel to distant lands, so when a tall ship appears in the harbor, headed north to the Kingdoms of the Cold, Margaret won't be left behind.
But adventures are perilous things. Soon Margaret must face a ferocious sea serpent and even worse dangers. And she must discover the truth about an old woman with strange powers and mysterious plans, or she'll never find a way to bring herself and her true love safely home.
Acclaimed author Robert D. San Souci spins a tale of magic, battles, and romance in this traditional Irish...

You may think you know this story I am going to tell you, but you have not heard it for true. I was there. So I will tell you the truth of it. Here. Now.

The author of such delights as The Christmas Ark and The Enchanted Tapestry joins forces with illustrator Pinkney to resurrect a colorful folktale that captures the unique flavor of the American South. A 1989 Caldecott Honor Book.

Scare-master Robert San Souci serves up ten chilling tales about untraditional haunted houses: a mansion full of pirate treasure, a ghost trapped in a mysterious dollhouse, a boy whose vacation house comes complete with people-eating spiders, and many more. But beware because not all of the protagonists in these stories get out alive.

This engaging retelling of the Southern Sierra Miwok legend features the great Yosemite Valley monolith, El Capitan, and how it came to be. Mother Grizzly Bear thinks that her two playful cubs are wrestling and having fun along the Merced River while she is checking her fish traps. When she returns to join her sons, however, she discovers the cubs are nowhere to be found. It takes an unlikely hero to bring her cubs safely home. Populated with characters based on real Sierra animals, this story is about the value of all beings, the nature of courage, and the idea that being a hero has very...