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In a Creepy, Creepy Place: and Other Scary Stories
Why is everybody so afraid of Jessie’s new doll, Frankenflopper? Is it because she’s ten times bigger than any kid on the block? Or is it because her creepy yellow eyes seem to follow you wherever you go? Master storyteller Judith Gorog brings us the story of a little girl and her not-so-ordinary doll—along with four other creepy tales—in her second collection of bizzare, icky, and scary-funny stories that are guaranteed to give chapter book readers goosebumps and giggles galore. 1999 Outstanding Pennsylvania Author
- GenresFiction
Paperback
First published September 1, 1996
About the author
Judith Gorog
16 books5 followersBorn in 1938 in Madison, Wisconsin, Judith Gorog grew up in Pennsylvania, Texas, and California before moving with her mother and stepfather to Wiesbaden, Germany, where she attended an American Air Force high school. After the suburbs, Gorog loved living in a European city, and spent her time exploring the beautiful streets, visiting coffeehouses, and taking horseback-riding lessons. In addition to the local culture, there was an American library with thousands of books in English for her to read. Gorog returned to the United States for college, attending San Jose State College and graduating from the University of California at Berkeley in 1961. She received her master's degree from Mills College in 1963.
After working for many years as an editor and technical writer, Gorog published her first children's book, A Taste for Quiet and Other Disquieting Tales, in 1982. Since then she has made a name for herself with her “spooky” stories and has published novels and picture books in addition to collections. Gorog and her Hungarian-born husband lived in Italy for a year, and have traveled to Peru, Japan, and Hungary. They have three children and a number of pets. Gorog speaks German, French, Italian, and Hungarian as well as English. When she is not writing, she counts among her many interests cooking, skiing, hiking, swimming, people-watching, and visiting hardware stores.
After working for many years as an editor and technical writer, Gorog published her first children's book, A Taste for Quiet and Other Disquieting Tales, in 1982. Since then she has made a name for herself with her “spooky” stories and has published novels and picture books in addition to collections. Gorog and her Hungarian-born husband lived in Italy for a year, and have traveled to Peru, Japan, and Hungary. They have three children and a number of pets. Gorog speaks German, French, Italian, and Hungarian as well as English. When she is not writing, she counts among her many interests cooking, skiing, hiking, swimming, people-watching, and visiting hardware stores.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 2, 2020
Judith Gorog and illustrator Kimberly Bulcken Root are no Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell—the team that created the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark trilogy—but they share a quirky chemistry on the page, evident for brief glimpses in the five short stories that comprise In a Creepy, Creepy Place and Other Scary Stories. In the first episode, "Take Out the Trash", Sophia dislikes her new household chore: emptying the wastebaskets on all three floors and depositing the contents into the main garbage can. She doesn't mind the work, but walking alone up the creaky old steps to the dark second story of her house conjures frightening images in Sophia's mind. Worse is the trip up the narrow staircase to the third floor, where she imagines cold, hateful eyes staring from the plaster walls. Based on a suggestion she heard, Sophia decides to bring a "friend" while emptying the baskets. That friend is her dog Posy, who doesn't mind following Sophia around...until she heads for the third floor. Posy isn't keen to go up there, but Sophia has ways to coerce her. When coping with spooky parts of your house, you gotta do what you gotta do.
"Frankenflopper" is next, the story on which the book's unsettling cover illustration is based. Jessie is younger than her siblings, but why shouldn't she get to watch the monster movie? They lock her out of the room, but she peers through the keyhole and sees the movie anyway. The story of a lonely man who builds a "dolly" that comes to life doesn't seem so scary. Jessie decides to do the same, piecing together a large makeshift doll from odds and ends around the house, with two yellow eyes that bug out. Jessie's family says "Frankenflopper" is creepy; even Jessie's friends avoid the house, uncomfortable around the doll, but eventually they grow bigger and aren't scared. Jessie's parents, however, never get used to those bulging yellow eyes. "The Scary Place" is only five pages, the shortest story in this collection. Not far from home is a location where a solitary mail dropbox casts a long shadow beneath a massive evergreen treen. Casey, Jay, and Briggs can't explain why they fear the place, but they don't want to be caught there after dark. You never feel at ease in certain spooky places, even if they're just a couple of blocks from home.
Story number four is "Gar". Ten years old, Gar loves owning pets, though he isn't a responsible caretaker. When his gerbils escaped into the house walls, they loudly scurried around until the neighbor's cat found its way in and had a meal. Now Gar wants a tarantula, but his mother is set against it...until the day she casually introduces the topic in conversation. Mr. Fredericks of Exotic Pets is selling a tarantula at the store, she informs Gar. Wary of her motives, Gar goes down to see for himself. The South American Avicularia is a hairy, bird-eating spider, and Gar feels he can communicate with him. The spider claims he convinced Gar's mother he is a guardian angel who will keep her son safe. Sure enough, Gar's mother permits him to buy the spider, whom he names "Killer". But is Killer a true Avicularia, or something more? "My Good Angel" is our final story. Eight-year-old Hector Angelique is responsible for his four-year-old sister Rosita. She's bigger than he is and inclined to unintentional mischief, but their grandmother reminds Hector to listen to the "good angel" over his shoulder and he'll be fine. It's not easy, but Hector usually manages to ignore the spiteful angel over his other shoulder and listen to the benevolent one, avoiding serious trouble for himself and Rosita. All of that is jeopardized one day when he falls asleep in the car alone with his sister and awakens several blocks from home. Did she drive the car? Disquieted, Hector listens to his angels for advice on what to do next. Dealing with a curious, adventurous sister like Rosita is a tough challenge.
I loved Kimberly Bulcken Root's illustrations for the 1999 edition of Dorothy Canfield Fisher's classic junior novel Understood Betsy, and her artwork is the highlight of In a Creepy, Creepy Place and Other Scary Stories. On the whole, however, the book is less than satisfactory. The stories end abruptly, often with little of consequence having happened. Some of them aren't intended to be scary, so I'm not sure why they're included. There's also no story called "In a Creepy, Creepy Place", so I don't know why the book bears that title. If you want a spooky read for kids not yet ready for Alvin Schwartz's trilogy, I recommend his two I Can Read collections, In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories and Ghosts! Ghostly Tales from Folklore. Had she taken a disciplined narrative approach, Judith Gorog's scary stories might be noteworthy, but I can't rate this book above one and a half stars. I'd be happy to try the author again, though.
"Frankenflopper" is next, the story on which the book's unsettling cover illustration is based. Jessie is younger than her siblings, but why shouldn't she get to watch the monster movie? They lock her out of the room, but she peers through the keyhole and sees the movie anyway. The story of a lonely man who builds a "dolly" that comes to life doesn't seem so scary. Jessie decides to do the same, piecing together a large makeshift doll from odds and ends around the house, with two yellow eyes that bug out. Jessie's family says "Frankenflopper" is creepy; even Jessie's friends avoid the house, uncomfortable around the doll, but eventually they grow bigger and aren't scared. Jessie's parents, however, never get used to those bulging yellow eyes. "The Scary Place" is only five pages, the shortest story in this collection. Not far from home is a location where a solitary mail dropbox casts a long shadow beneath a massive evergreen treen. Casey, Jay, and Briggs can't explain why they fear the place, but they don't want to be caught there after dark. You never feel at ease in certain spooky places, even if they're just a couple of blocks from home.
Story number four is "Gar". Ten years old, Gar loves owning pets, though he isn't a responsible caretaker. When his gerbils escaped into the house walls, they loudly scurried around until the neighbor's cat found its way in and had a meal. Now Gar wants a tarantula, but his mother is set against it...until the day she casually introduces the topic in conversation. Mr. Fredericks of Exotic Pets is selling a tarantula at the store, she informs Gar. Wary of her motives, Gar goes down to see for himself. The South American Avicularia is a hairy, bird-eating spider, and Gar feels he can communicate with him. The spider claims he convinced Gar's mother he is a guardian angel who will keep her son safe. Sure enough, Gar's mother permits him to buy the spider, whom he names "Killer". But is Killer a true Avicularia, or something more? "My Good Angel" is our final story. Eight-year-old Hector Angelique is responsible for his four-year-old sister Rosita. She's bigger than he is and inclined to unintentional mischief, but their grandmother reminds Hector to listen to the "good angel" over his shoulder and he'll be fine. It's not easy, but Hector usually manages to ignore the spiteful angel over his other shoulder and listen to the benevolent one, avoiding serious trouble for himself and Rosita. All of that is jeopardized one day when he falls asleep in the car alone with his sister and awakens several blocks from home. Did she drive the car? Disquieted, Hector listens to his angels for advice on what to do next. Dealing with a curious, adventurous sister like Rosita is a tough challenge.
I loved Kimberly Bulcken Root's illustrations for the 1999 edition of Dorothy Canfield Fisher's classic junior novel Understood Betsy, and her artwork is the highlight of In a Creepy, Creepy Place and Other Scary Stories. On the whole, however, the book is less than satisfactory. The stories end abruptly, often with little of consequence having happened. Some of them aren't intended to be scary, so I'm not sure why they're included. There's also no story called "In a Creepy, Creepy Place", so I don't know why the book bears that title. If you want a spooky read for kids not yet ready for Alvin Schwartz's trilogy, I recommend his two I Can Read collections, In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories and Ghosts! Ghostly Tales from Folklore. Had she taken a disciplined narrative approach, Judith Gorog's scary stories might be noteworthy, but I can't rate this book above one and a half stars. I'd be happy to try the author again, though.
June 11, 2019
this is NOT scary....if there is anything it's just about how to deal with fear like turn on the lights or get a friend t go with you.....and some stories are about guardian angles and doing the morally right thing. the title is completely false advertising
October 28, 2020
My favorite of the stories was “Gar”...
November 16, 2015
Lexile Level: 780
Pages: 51
Summary: Creepy places are everywhere, in closets, in an old house, on a dark corner on your way to school – creepy places are hard to avoid. Judith Gorog has written five stories that will give you the willies just be sure you are not in a creepy place when you read them.
Recommendations or Comments: These stories are creepy but not wildly scary. Like most of Gorog’s stories there is a twist or surprise at the end of each story.
I think these stories were written for a younger audience, third graders, unlike most of her work which is written for middle and high school students.
Stars: 4
Reviewed By: Michèle Freese
Pages: 51
Summary: Creepy places are everywhere, in closets, in an old house, on a dark corner on your way to school – creepy places are hard to avoid. Judith Gorog has written five stories that will give you the willies just be sure you are not in a creepy place when you read them.
Recommendations or Comments: These stories are creepy but not wildly scary. Like most of Gorog’s stories there is a twist or surprise at the end of each story.
I think these stories were written for a younger audience, third graders, unlike most of her work which is written for middle and high school students.
Stars: 4
Reviewed By: Michèle Freese
July 14, 2008
These really are not horror (or even humorous) stories, more like realistic fiction. Look elsewhere for scary stories for this age group (children grades 2-4.)
September 26, 2012
If you like to be scared, check out In a Creepy, Creepy Place and Other Scary Stories. This collection of scary stories with unpredictable events and bizarre characters will give you chills!
September 27, 2016
I WOULD recommend the book to my friends because it is a rely creepy and fun to read.
*My favorite part of the book was when he saw a trachrl.
* I wish the book was longer in the book.
*My favorite part of the book was when he saw a trachrl.
* I wish the book was longer in the book.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews