Dare to Be Scared: Thirteen Stories to Chill and Thrill

Dare to Be Scared #1

by Robert D. San Souci, David Ouimet (Illustrator)

This illustrated collection by the author of Short and Shivery: Thirty Chilling Tales includes ghost tales, “jump” stories, dark fantasy, and science fiction, all set in contemporary situations that will seem hauntingly familiar to young readers. Several of the stories draw on the rich heritage of legends, folklore, and cultural traditions as they extend into children’s lives today. With suspense, action, and manageable “scare level,” these stories will be popular around the campfire and during summertime sleepovers.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Paranormal, Young Adult, Halloween, Childrens

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Robert Daniel San Souci (October 10, 1946 – December 19, 2014) was a multiple award-winning children's book author, who resided in San Francisco, California. He often worked with his brother, Daniel San Souci, a children's book illustrator. He was a consultant to Disney Studios and was instrumental in the production of the film Mulan, for which he wrote the story. He studied folklore in graduate school. He died after suffering a head injury while falling from a high height in San Francisco in December 2014. He was only 68 years old.

Reviews

[emilie.❤ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loooong before the days of Creepypasta, THIS was the REAL DEAL.
Oh my gosh. My 8 or 9 year old self was scared out of her wits when she first read Playland, Ants and Hungry Ghosts. Holy craaap. And who could possibly forget THE CALLER? I remember telling the story of THE CALLER to some of my friends at a sleepover. It scared most of them I think.
Wow. For a kids book, a few of these stories were pretty sick. I'd love to re-read some of them again.

[Austin Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another fantastic collection of spooky stories from Robert San Souci, an author that has yet to disappoint me with his work.

Nighttown - 2.5/5

The Dark, Dark House - 2.5/5

The Caller - 3/5

The Double Dare - 3.25/5

Space is the Place - 3.25/5

Ants - 2.75/5

The Halloween Spirit - 3.5/5

The Bald Mountain Monster - 3.5/5

Playland - 3.75/5

Smoke - 3.25/5

Mrs. Moonlight - 3.5/5

Hungry Ghosts - 3.25/5

Bakotahl - 3.75/5

[Rosa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too mean! I'm disappointed that Cricket, which I love for believing in children, would publish a book of stories in which kids who do wrong are punished with bloody deaths.
Not all of the stories had this, and I liked some, like "Space is the Place" and "Señora Claro de la Luna," which ended with the promise of adventure and a justly-deserved, non-fatal punishment, respectively. But I hated the ones that ended with kids in pieces.
Some of them were just gross, too. Or had kids who did nothing wrong, but were just unlucky.

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know those books that you vaguely remember from when you were a kid? The ones that you know you were totally creeped out by, but then you just can't remember the name of the book for the life of you?

After literal years of looking, I was going to give up. I stumbled across this one while looking through on a whim.

For 10-year-old me, this was absolutely terrifying. "The Halloween Spirit" is the one story I've remembered from time-to-time. I couldn't recall a single other story from the book until I finally came across it. "Ants" was another one that gave me the heebie-jeebies, but it didn't get to me nearly as much as "The Halloween Spirit."

Would I recommend it to a 10-year-old? Probably not for someone new to horror. Maybe a middle schooler, although it was a classmate of the same age who encouraged me to read this and many other horror books that scared the bejeezus out of me when we were kids. Different kids have different tastes. This one was too much for me, but not for my friend.

I still can't believe I found it.

[Austin Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good finale to the series that's consistent with the quality of the previous books. This entry didn't quite reach the highs (or stoop to the lows) of certain stories in the previous books, but it was pretty solid and all the stories in here range from decent to very good.
Ratings for each story:

Heading Home: 3.25⭐

Lich Gate: 3.75⭐

Principal's Office: 3.5⭐

Woody: 3.25⭐

Snow Day: 3⭐

Fairy Godmother: 3.75⭐

Violet: 3.75⭐

A Really Scary Story: 3⭐

Witch: 3⭐

Red Rain: 3.75⭐

Cabin 13: 2.75⭐

Smoke Hands: 3.5⭐

Moonrise: 3.25⭐

[Kiram Kepp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was good because it had alot of diffrent stories in it. Some of theess stories were scarey but I was suppose to be asleep when I read this. I haven't choosen the best story yet. I might have to read it again,but if you like scarey stories then read this at night. It sends shocks down your spine. And it gets you thinking of whats gonig to happen next. The only problem was that it makes you feel like it should stay on one story other than just skipping around.

[Sandra Turton · Rating 2 out of 5]

*2.5*

[Oliver Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

my favorite of the series so far, I didnt dislike any story from this book(I'll review the second installment once I read it)
here's a short synopsis plus rating of each story.

nighttown: a young boy walks around a dark city and meets a man with sharp teeth, things get worse from there. the shortest of the pack but it's a really strong start, I believe it's a modernized update of an urban legend, anyway this was scary and fun I rate it 4 out of 5.

the dark dark house: a boy takes a dare that ends up being more than he bargained for. this was a creepy and cool monster story, it was short and nothing much happens until the end but it's so much fun and I really liked the ending I rate it 4 out of 5.

the caller: a young girl gets a call from someone she never expected to hear from again.
I loved this story growing up, this might actually be my favorite story in the entire series, it's a classic campfire story in a modern setting that you could use to scare your friends at a sleepover. I love the ending of it 5 out of 5 obvs.

the double dare: a group of boys dare their friend to run through a dark forest unaware that it will end badly for all of them. I thought this one was cool, I didn't really remember this one from when I was a kid but I don't know why 3 out of 5, not bad

space is the place: a young boy and his mother take a very strange bus ride.
I love alien stories and even though nothing much happens until the end I think this one was very interesting and kept us on the edge until something actually happened. 3 out of 5

ants: two young boys sneak into a horror movie screening, one of them will regret it. I liked this one it definitely has been done before but this was well written and that ending was dark even if it was one I expected. 4 out of five.

the Halloween spirit: a bratty teenage girl takes her little sister to a party but when a ritual goes wrong she might be bringing her home a bit late.

[Keyara Clay · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is about scary stories that you can possibly get scared of. There is one storie called the dream, an dits about a kid who fell asleep and woke up in his dream and is trying to find a way home. But he walks around down the street and sees sombody who he thinks will help him. But everyone has teeth that get longer and longer as the people pass by. then he finds the place where he is sleeping and he wakes himself up. he then goes outside for a breath of fresh air and then a guy walks up and looks at him with a big smile and shows all of his sharp pointy long teeth. one quote was " excuse me, can you help me find the summer hotel?" "Why yes i can'said the man. and smiled a smile that showed everyone of his really long and sharp teeth.' these quotes are relevent to the story because the kid just wants to wake up and everyone he talks too has teeth that are very long and sharp. the teeth scaare him and that is why he runs away from every person that he sees. all he wants to do is go home. he is too scared to finish asking the question or listening for the answer becuase the people are just tooo scary for him to handel.

[Rick Dudeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a librarian, I shared several of these stories with my 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. They were scared to death by the story "The Caller". This is not really frightening for any student over the age of, say..11 or 12. They are creepy for younger ones, but probably won't give nightmares!

[Aiesha Anchan]

Its good, just don't read it before bed!

[Claire Rainbow]

it was chilling and creepy with alot of twists

[Catherine Yezak · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of creepy stories. The illustrations help bring these tales of terror to life. Scary enough for both kids and adults.

[Shanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ghouls, spirits, ghosts; creatures, monsters, beasts; creepy-crawlies and aliens- this book has it all! These short stories are spooky and spine-chilling, but not graphically explicit. Most of the stories end with the monster approaching the victim, leaving it to the reader's imagination to fill in details. Here's an example from "The Bald Mountain Monster": "Then the shadow of a giant wing falling across the group of rescuers and rescued gave final, deadly proof of the youngsters' story." In most of the stories, an obnoxious kid ends up paying the ultimate price for his/her selfish behavior. Overall a very entertaining read.

[Maddie]

I was telling my nephew a story from this book and realized not only could I not remember how the story ended, I couldn't remember the damn book title either. Luckily someone from a goodreads group was able to find it for me (even though it'd been at least a decade since I'd gotten it from the library and my description was pretty vague-- y'all are good). So that's one mental itch scratched.

[Shuka · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recommend this book to read for entertainment and to get thrilled. This book has 13 different stories that are scary and spooky. Most of the 31 stories have a pattern of a ghost consequencing a kid that is bad and naughty. I think this book will teach kids to be good. This book is very interesting to read since it is thrilling and makes the reader curious about what will happen next. It is kind of adventurous on some stories. I think it is worth spending time reading this book.

[Saul Hirshberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is definitely scary. It is not as scary as Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark. It is very spooky. I definitely recommend. It is basically a bunch of folklore stories turned into made up stories by San Souci, although they are scarier. I give this more than 5 stars because it is really scary.

[Bella L · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a pretty nice book with some short stories of crazy adventures and thrilling journeys, each chapter is different with different characters and settings. some stories are interesting while some could get a little boring.

[Kate Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this to students for Halloween Spirit Week at my middle school library. I was surprised by how dark some of the stories were, but found all of them to be good enough reads. Some stories were definitely more sad than scary though.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad for a junior fiction. I appreciated the diversity and there were a handful of gems that were legitimately creepy.

[Isaac Riggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved these books as a kid.

[Michael Lent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoughtful and creepy twists on familiar ghost stories that will engage young readers. Some are scary and unsettling. Others aren't.

[Affan Anwer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories are great for telling in a night picnic. They are fabulously written with all having ambiguous endings.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a super fun collection of "spooky" stories!

[Debby · Rating 3 out of 5]

These stories were good. Very descriptive in detail but enough to make you turn the lights on.

[Madison R · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was intresting but i didnt fully enjoy it.

[Hannah S · Rating 4 out of 5]

As some of you may know, Bring Me the Horizon released their latest album, "That's the Spirit" on September 11, 2015. I strongly recommend this album for anyone who likes rock or alternative music. The songs on this album are so empowering and motivational, plus the album art is beautiful. Although this band has been heavier in the past, this album is much softer, and has matured along with the band.
Of course when an album is released, so are tour dates! Bring Me the Horizon is currently on a North American Tour in support of their album, so make sure to look up to the dates. If you decide to attend, not only will you see Bring Me the Horizon, you will get to see the opening acts, Issues and Paris. If you are interested in this genre of music but haven't heard if this band before, you should listen to some of their new songs, Follow You, Throne, and True Friends.
I highly suggest listening to this band. I have been a fan for many years, and personally love the evolution of their music. In addition, their concert tickets are less than thirty dollars! Hopefully you can enjoy this album as much as I did, and maybe even share it with a friend.

[Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Book Is About 13 scary stories just waiting to be read its based off of halloween. these kids who are going to certain places. there was a kid who's great grandmother's son's neck swelled up and he couldnt eat or drink anything without choking. A girl named Keesha whos sucked up on halloween while she takes her sister along and even though shes not allowed to go she goes anyways to the park with her friends and chants with them and the girl from new orleans and she gets sucked up on halloween by a witch.another story is about this boy whos going with his mom on a bus to their grandmother but this get weirder when the bus driver takes another route along the way

[Win Koring · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book to me is one of the best thriller books that I have ever read. Even though it consists of multiple stories. The best part about it is the fact that they never give you the ending. It always ends at the highest peak. Another thing about this book is that they always start out in reality then slowly come into a dream of fright. My favorite of them all is the one with the ufo. It is just so funny just imagining everyone freaking out. And in the middle of all of that is this little boy....amazed.

[ice cream · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book so far is about thirteen stories that are verey scary but I didn't read them all yet.My favorite story so far is the one when a boy went to the movies with his friends.But he didn't tell his mom what movie he was watching.Well he did,but he didn't tell her the right one.It was an ant movie but a violent one.He told her it was the disney movie called The Ant Bully.The movie that he went to watch with his friends was really to scary for him but he didn't know it yet.