Who's Afraid, & Other Stories

by Philippa Pearce

Stories deal with a poisonous pudding, a haunted tree, a teacher's suicide, a teddy bear's revenge, a frightening visit, visions of the future, and a ghostly sister

Genres: Short Stories, Childrens, Fiction

152 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Philippa Pearce was an acclaimed English author of children’s literature, best remembered for her classic time-slip novel Tom’s Midnight Garden, which won the 1958 Carnegie Medal and remains a staple of British children’s fiction. Raised in Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire, in the Mill House by the River Cam, Pearce drew lifelong inspiration from her rural upbringing. Educated at the Perse School for Girls and Girton College, Cambridge, she studied English and History before working as a civil servant and later producing schools’ radio programmes for the BBC.
Her debut, Minnow on the Say (1955), inspired by local landscapes and a childhood canoe trip, was a Carnegie runner-up and later adapted for television. Tom’s Midnight Garden, also rooted in her childhood environment, became her most celebrated work, inspiring multiple adaptations for stage, screen, and television. Pearce went on to publish over thirty books, including A Dog So Small, The Squirrel Wife, The Battle of Bubble and Squeak, and The Way to Sattin Shore, with several earning further Carnegie commendations.
Married briefly to Martin Christie, with whom she had a daughter, Pearce returned to Great Shelford in 1973, where she lived until her death in 2006. Her legacy continues through the annual Philippa Pearce Lecture, celebrating excellence in children’s literature.

Reviews

[Manuel Alfonseca · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

ENGLISH: This collection contains eleven stories, nine of which deal with ghosts; haunted places, objects and persons; and even the Devil.

The other two stories deal with real life situations. The first ("Black Eyes") with a little girl who hates her Teddy Bear; the second (the story of the collection title) with a one-hundred-years old great-grandmother, deaf, blind and in a wheelchair, good for nothing (according to her adult issue), but who manages to save one of her great-grandsons from his enemy. I liked these two stories better.

ESPAÑOL: Esta colección contiene once cuentos, nueve de los cuales tratan sobre fantasmas; lugares, objetos y personas embrujados; e incluso el diablo.

Los otros dos cuentos tratan sobre situaciones de la vida real. El primero ("Black Eyes") sobre una niña que odia a su osito de peluche; el segundo (el que da título a la colección) sobre una bisabuela de cien años, sorda, ciega y en silla de ruedas, que según sus descendientes adultos no sirve para nada, pero que logra salvar de su enemigo a uno de sus bisnietos. Estos dos cuentos son los que más me gustaron.

[Apollos Michio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought this small little book of horror stories from Book-Off in Sapporo, Hokkaido, last December for about SGD$1! 🤑

Who’s Afraid? and Other Strange Stories combines eleven short supernatural stories from Philippa Pearce, an English author of children’s books. 👻

Despite their short lengths, the stories are surprising in depth, with some even being heartwarming and others downright chilling. This is a fun little horror treat to read with your children (of course only if they are okay with horror 😂)!

3.75/5