Rats in the Attic and Other Stories to Make Your Skin Crawl

by George E. Stanley

A chilling collection of scary stories offers such wicked delights as rats in the attic, hide-and-seek in the funeral parlor, vampires in old tunnels, and walks at midnight with hooded strangers.

128 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1995

About the author

George Edward Stanley was born in Memphis, Texas on July 15, 1942. He received a bachelor's degree in 1965 and a master's degree in 1967 from Texas Tech University. He earned his Doctor Litterarum in African Linguistics in 1974 from the University of Port Elizabeth in South Africa. He lived all over Europe and Africa, studying and teaching foreign languages, working for the U.S. government, and writing books for young people and adults. He started writing fiction while a Fulbright professor in Chad, Central Africa, where about the only diversion he found available was listening to the BBC on his short wave radio. That led to his writing radio plays for a program called World Service Short Story. Three of his plays were eventually produced. After writing and publishing over 200 short stories in American, British, Irish, and South African magazines and linguistics articles in major international journals, he started writing books. He wrote over 100 fiction and non-fiction books for young people including The Katie Lynn Cookie Company series and the Adam Sharp series. He also wrote under the pseudonyms of M. T. Coffin, Franklin W. Dixon, Laura Lee Hope, Carolyn Keene, Adam Mills, and Stuart Symons. He was a professor of African and Middle-Eastern languages and linguistics in the department of foreign languages at Cameron University. He died from a ruptured aneurysm on February 7, 2011 at the age of 68.

Reviews

[Kitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just a short book I picked up to help me reach my goal for the year. I wasn't expecting anything great to be in-between the covers, so I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered this book wasn't half bad. Each story was only three or four pages long, so there was no boring, drawn-out background information to skim past.
True, I wasn't shivering under my blankets, grasping Stripes (my stuffed white tiger) against my chest out of fear. But, a few of them did managed to make me feel uncomfortable. I could easily see R.L. Stine writing these. There were a few parts that are probably more suited for adults, like stuffed animals eating the throats out of children, (You'd never do that to me, right Stripes? Hehe, right? ...Stripes?!) and a descriptive sentence about a father getting strangled to death right in front of his son. Most stories are harmless and entertaining, though. I definitely suggest this if you love the Goosebumps series and are looking for a quick little reading slump killer.

[Grace Chan · Rating 4 out of 5]

SO. DAMN. BLEAK 😭😭 Practically every single story in this slim volume truly shocked me at how violent and/or grim they were, and just made me depressed 🤣🤣🤣 I was reading Sweet Valley High as a second book just to get a PALATE CLEANSER from these dark effed up stories 🤣🤣😭😭💀💀

There are deaths in every damn story and I just found it hard to believe THIS BOOK WAS FOR CHILDREN 🤣🤣💀 They were all just so messed up!! One of my faves was about this poor kid who has to stay with his Aunt and share a room with his cousin…except the cousin is DEAD and chained to his bed and then the boy wakes up and now HE’S the chained up one 😭😭😭And Aunt is like, I’m gonna call your mom and tell her you died and I buried you and now you’re mine and meanwhile the dead rotting kid is next to him 😭😭😭

I would finish a few stories and then sit there all miserable 🤣🤣 Read this and enjoy, YOU SICKOS!! 😈

[Erica Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bloody, bleak, and disturbing. Just as I expected, after reading the equally crazy Happy Deathday to You.

Each of these short stories may be just a few pages long, but what they lack in length they make up for in shock and horror. Parents are abundant but none of these young characters are safe.

And sometimes the children are the ones to watch out for.

Stanley isn’t afraid to kill off even the most innocent and sympathetic characters. I can’t even think of one story that didn’t end on a grim note. Make no mistake—this may seem like it’s for kids but even I think these are too dark for them lol.

[Rosie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun book that is perfect for young readers who love scary stories. Each story is only 3 or 4 pages, so it is perfect to read one before bedtime or during a Halloween library program. Some of my favorites are Aunt Hortense’s Room, Switching Mothers, and Stuffed Animals.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few fun scary stories, some actually quite creepy. Although, taken altogether, some of the stories are quite predictable. Still love it though! :)