Nighttime: Too Scared to Sleep

Nighttime #3

by Todd Strasser, Doug Cushman (Illustrator)

Have you ever seen a figure moving in the darkness? Do shadows come alive and dance on your walls? If a ghost borrowed your headphones, would you run and hide?

If so, then you may be Too Scared to Sleep.

DON'T read this book, or you'll be sorry when Nighttime comes around.

Genres: Fiction, Childrens

80 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 2007

About the author

Todd Strasser is an American author of more than 130 novels for adults, young-adults, and middle graders.

His most recent novel is Summer of '69

Booklist review: "Drugs, sex, and rock 'n' roll, those hallmarks of the summer of 1969, are all here, but there's so much more. In this loosely autobiographical novel, Strasser introduces 18-year-old Lucas, who is bright and sensitive but also a screw up…. The picture painted of the Woodstock music festival shows the dark side of peace and love, and the prevalence of drugs is on almost every page…The best part of the book, however, is the one that transcends eras: Lucas' introspection as he contemplates his place in the world."

Kirkus review: "Strasser perfectly captures the golden haze of youth and life on the cusp of adulthood. Readers fascinated with this time period will find much to enjoy... Vietnam, Woodstock, road trips, and acid trips: a sweetly bittersweet, surprising, even melancholy bildungsroman set against a world in flux. Groovy, man."

His most recent young adult novel is Price of Duty:
2018 New York Public Library Best Book for Teens
“Compact and suspenseful, the novel raises important questions about war.” – Kirkus 
“This thought-provoking book is both welcome and imperative.” – Booklist * (starred review).
"Rather than attempting to sway the reader, it offers awareness." - VOYA 
“Tightly wound and compelling ... appropriate for an older middle school and high school audience. VERDICT: Highly recommended.” – School Library Journal 

Bio: Todd was born in New York City. When he was young his parents moved to Roslyn Heights, New York (Long Island). Todd went to the I.U. Willets Elementary school and then attended the Wheatley School for junior high and high school. His best subjects were math and science. He also liked to read, but he had trouble with spelling and grammar, and didn't do well in English. His favorite sports were tennis, skiing and fishing. Todd went to college at New York University for a few years, and then dropped out. He lived on a commune, then lived in Europe where he was a street musician.

All the while, Todd wrote songs and poems and lots of letters to his friends back home. Finally he decided to try being a writer. He returned to the United States and went to Beloit College where he studied literature and writing.

After college, Todd worked at the Middletown Times Herald-Record newspaper in Middletown, New York, and later at Compton Advertising in New York City. In 1978, Todd sold his first novel, Angel Dust Blues. He used the money to start the Dr. Wing Tip Shoo fortune cookie company. For the next 12 years, Todd sold more fortune cookies than books.

Todd now divides his time between writing books and speaking at schools and conferences. When he's at home, he likes to spend time with his children and dog, Cooper. He still likes to play tennis and ski, but his favorite new sport is surfing.

Reviews

[Ricardo Sosa-Melo · Rating 5 out of 5]

To this day, I am still frightened of the story about Samantha's dream.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

the karaoke story haunts me to this day

[✧ hayley (the sugar bowl) ✧ · Rating 3 out of 5]

➳ 3 ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

haha i barely remember reading this but i liked little spooky stories like this when i was little and i had fun ✨





୧ ‧₊˚ 🍓 ⋅ ☆

[Steven R. McEvoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

These seven stories are written for a young audience. They are geared for children in grades 2-4, and the stories will entertain and surprise. I became interested in the series because the covers grabbed my attention. The covers reminded me of the movie Princess Monoke, and I had to read these stories. This is the second book in this series that I read and the 7 short stories in it are wonderfully dark and spooky. The stories are fun to read, and will make some children think twice about their behavior or misbehavior. In each of the stories someone is taught a lesson and usually they deserved it. It is an interesting technique of teaching children how to behave better by scaring them a little bit. Well-written and entertaining.

Books in the Nighttime Series:
Too Scared To Sleep
Too Afraid To Scream
Too Dark To See

[Baishali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its very interesting. Especially for the ghost story lovers like me.

[Janine Lim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is fantastic and i love it!

[Angie Titus · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like any of the stories in this collection. I know this is for very young readers, but that shouldn't prevent at least some of the stories from being compelling.

[sanvi · Rating 5 out of 5]

aww, literally my whole childhood. the babysitters story and the halloween one live in my head rent free. i lost my copy but oh god i have to buy it again 🥹

[Remi Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute my little brother loved it

[Megan Cureton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Too Scared To Sleep is a book full of scary bedtime stories. These stories range from ghosts to pictures changing into witches. These stories would be perfect for a young reader that is into scary stories and mysteries. I think this book would be appropriate for fifth graders and up. I think that if readers younger than fifth grade read this book, they might not understand the stories and understand the big concept of the scary story. My favorite story was the one titled "Halloween Music". A group of young boys are out trick-or-treating and one of them always has his ear buds to his Ipod in playing music. They decide to play a trick on him and take him to an abandoned house and leave him in there while they wait outside, but while he is in there, he meets a lady named Marjory Marbury. She offers him candy and then she wants to listen to his Ipod, and they are being really friendly to each other. His friends start to get worried about him so they come in and when they come upstairs to see what he is doing, he goes to introduce Marjory to them and she disappears. He tries to explain to them how she was just talking to him but they don't believe him and that she choked and passed away over 60 years ago. But when Andy gets home, he reaches in his pocket and finds some candy she had given him. I thought that this scary story was told in great detail and any young reader that enjoys suspense and mystery would appreciate this story and trying to decide if what Andy saw was a real person or a ghost. I also think that this book might be too scary and not school appropriate, so I probably wouldn't have this book in my classroom library, although I really enjoyed reading these scary stories. I think an older reader would really enjoy these. I found myself wanting to read on throughout the whole book! This book was very nicely put together and I love the use of imagination that was used to create these scary stories.

[Wisty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like my life just came full circle! I got this book when I was really young from one of those Scholastic Book Fairs at school (oh, how I miss those) and it was pretty scary. So I decided to reread it-not for the first time-tonight because I had some time on my hands. Why is it that I was 100% more scared this time around? Is my horror tolerance worsening as I get older? Will I be able to sleep tonight?!
Anyway, then I realized this was written by Todd Strasser, who also wrote Boot Camp. I think Boot Camp was probably my first experience with a crazy book, so it holds a special and horrible place in my heart.
I prefer scary stories that aren't actually scary, but more...cutesy.

And shout out to the fact that I completed my reading challenge with this one. But was it worth the fear?

[Rosa Cline]

I started reading this book out loud to my special needs teenage sons. We like 'spooky' things or 'fun scarey' things but after about three chapters I stopped reading. This book is what I would believe would be similar to R.L. Stein books. The story started talking about toys coming alive and telling the boy not to be so mean. I stopped reading after that. Was just 'too' much for my boys. And the last page of the book (I read to myself) was talking about pictures changing and coming alive... So for certain for older kids and or children that can understand paranormal stuff.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was an ok book.Some of the stoies we're scary and i wanted to keep reading them.It is about little stories that will scre you. Each chapter is a new story.I recommend this book to people who like a scare.

[Ubalstecha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute collection of short stories that are more creepy than scary. Aimed at the early junior set. Nice to entice those reluctant reader/horror fan.

[Maximilian Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book because there were dolls that were alive. I also liked this book because there were also action figures that were alive.