What do you think?
Rate this book
Scary Stories for Sleep-overs #1
Scary Stories for Sleep-Overs
What terrifying secrets does the hermit's cave hold? Why does David insist on leaving the lights on at night? What is that new girl at school hiding? Brave enough to find out the answers? Then Scary Stories for Sleep-Overs is for you! With demented youngsters and their creepy pets, abandoned houses and their chilling secrets, each terrifying tale in Scary Stories will captivate you until the thrilling end. Turn a camping trip or slumber party into an adventure in fright, or for the extra-fearless, read Scary Stories alone!
126 pages, Paperback
First published August 6, 1991
11 people are currently reading
254 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
October 17, 2016
I didn’t realize until recently, but a lot of my childhood was defined by scary stories. Goosebumps, Are You Afraid of the Dark, Tales From the Crypt (the edited version that aired on basic cable, anyway), TNT’s Monstervision (I can’t be the only one who remembers that, right?), Puppet Master and other Full Moon movies. And of course that classic of “illustrations that scare-the-absolute-crap-out-of-kids”: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.
One anthology that stood out in my little kid head was Scary Stories For Sleep-Overs. It was always right up there with the Tell in the Dark books as something that creeped the heck out of me.
The first cool thing I’d like to point out is that the interior illustrations were done by Ricardo Delgado, writer and illustrator of the amazing Age of Reptiles comic books- a series of wordless tales about the (admittedly somewhat anthropomorphasized) drama and adventures of a group of dinosaurs. Delgado’s drawings in Scary Stories are more subdued and less detailed than his AoR work. But they still have a creepy atmosphere that carries the book well.
The thing that really struck me about these stories as a kid- and even now as an adult- is how nightmarish they are. These are no light, spooky haunted house scares where everyone just runs home and hides under the covers until morning. There’s real dread and danger in these tales. And children are explicitly NOT safe. Most stories end with a nasty fate for the kid protagonists.
Here’s a run-down of the stories. Some spoilers ahead.
The Hermit of Collins’ Peak
A strange old man who lives in a shack on the edge of town has become the “boogeyman” for the local kids. Every time anyone gets near his home, he runs out screaming and chases them away. But one day the hermit gets sick and has to be rushed to the hospital, leaving his shack unguarded. So of course a group of kids decide to see what’s inside. The story itself is fairly typical fair, but the twist ending is ambiguous and creepy enough to make it memorable.
Dead Giveaway
One of the less memorable tales, I find. A kid discovers that every time he wishes something nasty on people, they end up getting killed in gruesome ways. The school bully even gets dismembered by lions when he falls into their pit at the zoo after something frightens him. The ultimate cause of their deaths is at least a satisfying twist.
The Gift
This one is a dark take on the “boy learns a lesson about being cruel to animals” tale. The animals, in this case, being the ants in a little farm that he got as an unwanted birthday present. By far one of the best scenes in the whole book is when the insects, fed up with this kid’s shit, build their tunnels to spell out HATE. Pretty goofy reading it as an adult, but a seriously disturbing image when you’re a kid.
A Camping Trip
This one’s the weakest story in the anthology. Sort of a Kid’s Lite version of an 80s slasher film. A bunch of boys go camping. They meet a friendly, forgettable park ranger who disappears right away (foreshadowing!). Their counselor tells them a story about some kids getting killed by a Native American mummy. Someone goes missing in the night and they start a search and, er, that’s basically it.
Oh, also, it’s implied that someone killed the kid. I’ll let you guess who.
Anyway.
Mummy’s Little Helper
Anne keeps hearing a little girl crying for help in the middle of the night. No one else hears it, so she has her friend Robin stay over to help her solve the mystery. Like The Hermit of Collins’ Peak, this one is a classic story with an ending that seriously creeped out second-grade me.
Shadow Play
This story is by far the most frightening one for me, and the main reason this anthology got etched so deeply into my memories.
Like many of the stories, it’s a familiar premise: a young boy is being haunted by living (or maybe not-so-living) shadows that appear in his room every night when the lights go out. Just the mere idea is frightening enough. But the slow, mounting dread really gets to you. That feeling of helplessness against the dark and the things hiding there as they come closer and closer each night. Even as an adult, reading this at 3am in a darkened house (yes, I totally did that to set the mood), it got me spooked.
The Dollhouse
Karen likes to collect miniatures- tiny animals, doll furniture, figurines, etc. While trying to make friends with the shy new girl, Jenny, Karen discovers that she likes miniature things too. Jenny even has a dollhouse at her home with tons of furniture rendered in perfect tiny details, which she offers to show Karen. The ending to this story always reminded me of the “It’s A Good Life” segment from the Twilight Zone movie. The one about the boy with god-like powers. Kids with powers are always freaky in my mind. Because kids can be mean little assholes without even trying, so the last thing you want them to have is control over the fundamental laws of the universe.
Frankenkid
Another mostly forgettable story. A kid builds a robot and
This story is actually memorable for the huge amount of detail the writer puts into describing just how the kid goes about builds his mini-Terminator. Most of the story is about him building the limbs out of an Erector set, making the body out of a breadbox, splicing some wires together, then using a dead lizard as the “battery” or “brain” or something.
So I guess
The Girl of Their Dreams
Two kids keep dreaming about a mysterious girl. Then one day a dad and his daughter move into the house in the old field at the end of the block that’s been abandoned for years. And yeah, the daughter is totally the girl they keep seeing in their dreams. And she invites them to come in, which they accept because they do not know they are in a horror anthology and clearly nothing bad could happen here.
A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Somebody is killing people in town. Jack says it’s a monster, but Craig thinks that’s stupid, so they end up getting into a fight and being mad at each other because kids will fight over dumb shit. Hence why they should not have god-like powers (see The Dollhouse above).
Craig actually gets an interesting bit of characterization in that he’s unhappy because his parents are always too busy to pay much attention to him. So busy that they can’t even be arsed to pick him up from school when there’s- holy shit! a freaking serial killer on the loose! Assbutts.
Oh, also, Craig’s the stupid one. It’s totally a monster.
The Thrill-Seekers’ Club
A kid needs to go to a cemetery in the middle of the night to steal a flowerpot from a grave so he can get into the titular club. Another spin on a classic ghost story. Especially in the way the undead WAY overreact to someone trespassing in their graveyard at night. Lighten up, guys.
As much as I joke, I really do love this anthology. Like I said- it left quite the impression on young me. Even though the stories are pretty predictable, I realize now that they introduced me to a number of classic horror tropes like the Hermit with a Dark Secret; the Karmic Death from Mistreating Animals; Creepy Supernatural Children, etc.
And those living shadows. Brr.....
One anthology that stood out in my little kid head was Scary Stories For Sleep-Overs. It was always right up there with the Tell in the Dark books as something that creeped the heck out of me.
The first cool thing I’d like to point out is that the interior illustrations were done by Ricardo Delgado, writer and illustrator of the amazing Age of Reptiles comic books- a series of wordless tales about the (admittedly somewhat anthropomorphasized) drama and adventures of a group of dinosaurs. Delgado’s drawings in Scary Stories are more subdued and less detailed than his AoR work. But they still have a creepy atmosphere that carries the book well.
The thing that really struck me about these stories as a kid- and even now as an adult- is how nightmarish they are. These are no light, spooky haunted house scares where everyone just runs home and hides under the covers until morning. There’s real dread and danger in these tales. And children are explicitly NOT safe. Most stories end with a nasty fate for the kid protagonists.
Here’s a run-down of the stories. Some spoilers ahead.
The Hermit of Collins’ Peak
A strange old man who lives in a shack on the edge of town has become the “boogeyman” for the local kids. Every time anyone gets near his home, he runs out screaming and chases them away. But one day the hermit gets sick and has to be rushed to the hospital, leaving his shack unguarded. So of course a group of kids decide to see what’s inside. The story itself is fairly typical fair, but the twist ending is ambiguous and creepy enough to make it memorable.
Dead Giveaway
One of the less memorable tales, I find. A kid discovers that every time he wishes something nasty on people, they end up getting killed in gruesome ways. The school bully even gets dismembered by lions when he falls into their pit at the zoo after something frightens him. The ultimate cause of their deaths is at least a satisfying twist.
The Gift
This one is a dark take on the “boy learns a lesson about being cruel to animals” tale. The animals, in this case, being the ants in a little farm that he got as an unwanted birthday present. By far one of the best scenes in the whole book is when the insects, fed up with this kid’s shit, build their tunnels to spell out HATE. Pretty goofy reading it as an adult, but a seriously disturbing image when you’re a kid.
A Camping Trip
This one’s the weakest story in the anthology. Sort of a Kid’s Lite version of an 80s slasher film. A bunch of boys go camping. They meet a friendly, forgettable park ranger who disappears right away (foreshadowing!). Their counselor tells them a story about some kids getting killed by a Native American mummy. Someone goes missing in the night and they start a search and, er, that’s basically it.
Oh, also, it’s implied that someone killed the kid. I’ll let you guess who.
Anyway.
Mummy’s Little Helper
Anne keeps hearing a little girl crying for help in the middle of the night. No one else hears it, so she has her friend Robin stay over to help her solve the mystery. Like The Hermit of Collins’ Peak, this one is a classic story with an ending that seriously creeped out second-grade me.
Shadow Play
This story is by far the most frightening one for me, and the main reason this anthology got etched so deeply into my memories.
Like many of the stories, it’s a familiar premise: a young boy is being haunted by living (or maybe not-so-living) shadows that appear in his room every night when the lights go out. Just the mere idea is frightening enough. But the slow, mounting dread really gets to you. That feeling of helplessness against the dark and the things hiding there as they come closer and closer each night. Even as an adult, reading this at 3am in a darkened house (yes, I totally did that to set the mood), it got me spooked.
The Dollhouse
Karen likes to collect miniatures- tiny animals, doll furniture, figurines, etc. While trying to make friends with the shy new girl, Jenny, Karen discovers that she likes miniature things too. Jenny even has a dollhouse at her home with tons of furniture rendered in perfect tiny details, which she offers to show Karen. The ending to this story always reminded me of the “It’s A Good Life” segment from the Twilight Zone movie. The one about the boy with god-like powers. Kids with powers are always freaky in my mind. Because kids can be mean little assholes without even trying, so the last thing you want them to have is control over the fundamental laws of the universe.
Frankenkid
Another mostly forgettable story. A kid builds a robot and
This story is actually memorable for the huge amount of detail the writer puts into describing just how the kid goes about builds his mini-Terminator. Most of the story is about him building the limbs out of an Erector set, making the body out of a breadbox, splicing some wires together, then using a dead lizard as the “battery” or “brain” or something.
So I guess
The Girl of Their Dreams
Two kids keep dreaming about a mysterious girl. Then one day a dad and his daughter move into the house in the old field at the end of the block that’s been abandoned for years. And yeah, the daughter is totally the girl they keep seeing in their dreams. And she invites them to come in, which they accept because they do not know they are in a horror anthology and clearly nothing bad could happen here.
A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Somebody is killing people in town. Jack says it’s a monster, but Craig thinks that’s stupid, so they end up getting into a fight and being mad at each other because kids will fight over dumb shit. Hence why they should not have god-like powers (see The Dollhouse above).
Craig actually gets an interesting bit of characterization in that he’s unhappy because his parents are always too busy to pay much attention to him. So busy that they can’t even be arsed to pick him up from school when there’s- holy shit! a freaking serial killer on the loose! Assbutts.
Oh, also, Craig’s the stupid one. It’s totally a monster.
The Thrill-Seekers’ Club
A kid needs to go to a cemetery in the middle of the night to steal a flowerpot from a grave so he can get into the titular club. Another spin on a classic ghost story. Especially in the way the undead WAY overreact to someone trespassing in their graveyard at night. Lighten up, guys.
As much as I joke, I really do love this anthology. Like I said- it left quite the impression on young me. Even though the stories are pretty predictable, I realize now that they introduced me to a number of classic horror tropes like the Hermit with a Dark Secret; the Karmic Death from Mistreating Animals; Creepy Supernatural Children, etc.
And those living shadows. Brr.....
February 6, 2016
When I was a kid, the reigning scary stories books in the 90s were Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and Goosebumps. SStTitD is a classic trilogy filled with terrifying artwork and stories that mostly bordered on weird, written in a very brisk oral style that didn't linger on hardly anything. It wasn't a bad way to introduce kids to spooky stories since none of the stories were long enough to lose their attention, and they covered a wide range of spooky topics: bad supernatural things happening to people, or people having freakish experiences that just left them a little shaken -- overall the stories were weird and dream-like, and basically harmless. Except for a couple examples that were genuinely scary. I'm looking at you, Harold.
I never understood why Goosebumps was so popular, though. It's actually a standard practice in young scary fiction to always make sure the kids are in control of their situation, and to give the story a happy ending. This defeats the entire purpose of making something scary. And yet, my peers were terrified of Goosebumps.
They were terrified of Goosebumps because they'd never heard of Scary Stories For Sleepovers.
This book was guaranteed to keep your children up at night for a fucking week. I had to do mental calming exercises in order to get to sleep at a reasonable hour, and it didn't help that I already had bad dreams and a general skittishness of the dark.
Why was this book scary for kids? Because there were no happy endings. Every tale was a nightmarish journey that ended with an unspeakable fate for its adolescent protagonists. The book's sequels -- usually written by Q. L. Pearce -- were usually no less horrifying, though the scariness ratio was never as high as Welch's original installment, and the last few books were utter jokes proving that the series had long since run out of steam.
These books are the stuff of nightmares for a young kid, and they leave a lasting impression. I look back upon the SStTitD trilogy with a fond sense of nostalgia, and upon Goosebumps with eye-rolling derision. Thoughts of the tales in the Sleepovers series still give me chills all these years later. The writing quality is definitely not up to adult standards, and many of the stories fall flat or seem rushed; but when it works, it works well. Well enough to inspire kids to write horror themselves...and to sleep with the lights on.
I never understood why Goosebumps was so popular, though. It's actually a standard practice in young scary fiction to always make sure the kids are in control of their situation, and to give the story a happy ending. This defeats the entire purpose of making something scary. And yet, my peers were terrified of Goosebumps.
They were terrified of Goosebumps because they'd never heard of Scary Stories For Sleepovers.
This book was guaranteed to keep your children up at night for a fucking week. I had to do mental calming exercises in order to get to sleep at a reasonable hour, and it didn't help that I already had bad dreams and a general skittishness of the dark.
Why was this book scary for kids? Because there were no happy endings. Every tale was a nightmarish journey that ended with an unspeakable fate for its adolescent protagonists. The book's sequels -- usually written by Q. L. Pearce -- were usually no less horrifying, though the scariness ratio was never as high as Welch's original installment, and the last few books were utter jokes proving that the series had long since run out of steam.
These books are the stuff of nightmares for a young kid, and they leave a lasting impression. I look back upon the SStTitD trilogy with a fond sense of nostalgia, and upon Goosebumps with eye-rolling derision. Thoughts of the tales in the Sleepovers series still give me chills all these years later. The writing quality is definitely not up to adult standards, and many of the stories fall flat or seem rushed; but when it works, it works well. Well enough to inspire kids to write horror themselves...and to sleep with the lights on.
January 18, 2025
2.5⭐ rounded down.
For those raised on the works by and akin to Alvin Schwartz, R.L. Stine, or really having any exposure to spooky stories and folk tales, for that matter, will find this to be a rather plain, straightforward, and derivative collection of stories that mostly have predictable twist endings.
Still, there's some level of competence to this and a few surprising depictions of violence and death that keep it afloat amidst the vast sea that is children's horror literature.
I suspect those who grew up with this particular series may have a special affinity or nostalgia for it that could help elevate it further, but for most of us that are fans of kids' horror, this is simply a fine collection of tales; one that's not bad but I couldn't go out of my way to recommend either.
For those raised on the works by and akin to Alvin Schwartz, R.L. Stine, or really having any exposure to spooky stories and folk tales, for that matter, will find this to be a rather plain, straightforward, and derivative collection of stories that mostly have predictable twist endings.
Still, there's some level of competence to this and a few surprising depictions of violence and death that keep it afloat amidst the vast sea that is children's horror literature.
I suspect those who grew up with this particular series may have a special affinity or nostalgia for it that could help elevate it further, but for most of us that are fans of kids' horror, this is simply a fine collection of tales; one that's not bad but I couldn't go out of my way to recommend either.
July 10, 2010
Four stars for nostalgia. I had this book as a child and the stories were some of the scariest I'd read. I'd forgotten the title and only recently was able to find it again through my sleuthing. Needless to say, the stories don't pack the same punch 19 years later, but they were still entertaining.
April 28, 2020
This book terrified me in the 4th grade. It took me a while to find it again as I only had faint memory of two of the stories from it. Luckily, I remembered the scariest parts and Google helped me the rest of the way. It was actually a struggle to try and buy it, but I finally got my hands on it.
These stories are excellent for young readers. I think it's important that children have a proper scaring throughout their childhood that is fictional to release a lot of their pent-up real life fears. This book hits the spot. The stories are aimed at young readers, but not written in that goofy joke-book style that many short horror stories for children tend to fall into. These stories are grisly, brutal, and don't have happy endings.
As a 28 year old adult now digging up this book for nostalgic reasons, it was still quite terrifying and I can imagine it's more so for a younger audience. The more horrific parts stuck with me all these years and doing my best to retell them made me a celebrity around the campfire. I love this book and if your children, students, or even yourself are looking for a scarer read, this is your book.
These stories are excellent for young readers. I think it's important that children have a proper scaring throughout their childhood that is fictional to release a lot of their pent-up real life fears. This book hits the spot. The stories are aimed at young readers, but not written in that goofy joke-book style that many short horror stories for children tend to fall into. These stories are grisly, brutal, and don't have happy endings.
As a 28 year old adult now digging up this book for nostalgic reasons, it was still quite terrifying and I can imagine it's more so for a younger audience. The more horrific parts stuck with me all these years and doing my best to retell them made me a celebrity around the campfire. I love this book and if your children, students, or even yourself are looking for a scarer read, this is your book.
June 13, 2025
Lecture nostalgie. J'avais lu ces livres lorsque j'étais enfant, dans la collection "Chauve-souris". Pour les avoir lues et relues, elle me revienne en tête facilement. C'est le genre d'histoire qu'on se racontait au bord d'un feu pour se faire peur. Les histoires n'ont pas toutes bien vieilli. Mais pas mauvais si on aime l'épouvante. La plupart des petites histoires de ce tome se terminent sur une fin ouverte où on ne sait pas trop ce qui est arrivé aux personnages.
May 21, 2017
Good. But not that good.
March 22, 2022
These are SO SCARY?? I’m so glad I didn’t get to read this as a child, it would’ve given me serious anxiety. Love the book!
June 20, 2025
Quick, fun, nostalgic. Had a great time reading this during the late summer nights.
May 27, 2024
These are quite spooky stories, perfect for any younger reader desperate to get into the horror genre.
April 30, 2015
So, I decided to be 12 again for a night and read this short little book of scary stories. I picked this book up at a thrift store a while ago for around a quarter, and I’m still trying to figure out what made me buy it. Maybe it was because I’m a sucker for horror; Maybe it was because I was feeling overbearingly nostalgic that day; Maybe it was a yearning for the easy time of being 10 and not having to worry about responsibilities resulting in slumber parties every weekend. Whatever it was, this book was in my possession, so I read it.
There’s not really much to be said for a synopsis besides this is a compilation of scary stories for you to read with/to your friends at sleepovers. I would say the reading level of this book is easily 3rd or 4th grade.
Now for my short review.
This book was pretty mediocre, to be honest. Maybe it’s because I didn’t actually read these when I was a kid, but I didn’t feel like it was written all that well. I found most of the stories to have a decent amount of tension, but nothing that made me feel the need to read at a rapid pace. My heart was definitely not pounding in my chest. Now, I know these are written for a very young age group, but I always say that a great story should be able to be enjoyed by everyone, regardless of age. And, regardless of my age, I didn’t really care too much for these. It’s pretty plain and simple; they weren’t awful, but they weren’t great.
Now, if you are looking for a recommendation for a book of good scary stories, check out the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Treasury (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...). This was one of my favorite compilations when I was in elementary school (yes, the horror bone has occupied my body my whole life), still remains one of my favorite compilations (I still read it quite frequently), and I highly advocate for it. Please don’t get angry, though, if you read it and end up not liking it (I won’t be offended!), because that book, unlike the one this review is about, has some pretty serious nostalgia attached to it.
Thanks for reading and make sure you stop by and check out my Facebook and Tumblr. pages. Keep up on my latest reviews and follow for other bookish posts! –https://www.facebook.com/dreamingthro... and http://dreamingthroughliterature.tumb...
There’s not really much to be said for a synopsis besides this is a compilation of scary stories for you to read with/to your friends at sleepovers. I would say the reading level of this book is easily 3rd or 4th grade.
Now for my short review.
This book was pretty mediocre, to be honest. Maybe it’s because I didn’t actually read these when I was a kid, but I didn’t feel like it was written all that well. I found most of the stories to have a decent amount of tension, but nothing that made me feel the need to read at a rapid pace. My heart was definitely not pounding in my chest. Now, I know these are written for a very young age group, but I always say that a great story should be able to be enjoyed by everyone, regardless of age. And, regardless of my age, I didn’t really care too much for these. It’s pretty plain and simple; they weren’t awful, but they weren’t great.
Now, if you are looking for a recommendation for a book of good scary stories, check out the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Treasury (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...). This was one of my favorite compilations when I was in elementary school (yes, the horror bone has occupied my body my whole life), still remains one of my favorite compilations (I still read it quite frequently), and I highly advocate for it. Please don’t get angry, though, if you read it and end up not liking it (I won’t be offended!), because that book, unlike the one this review is about, has some pretty serious nostalgia attached to it.
Thanks for reading and make sure you stop by and check out my Facebook and Tumblr. pages. Keep up on my latest reviews and follow for other bookish posts! –https://www.facebook.com/dreamingthro... and http://dreamingthroughliterature.tumb...
March 20, 2012
what terrifying stories does this book hold about the goblins and ghost?to many scary things in one book i cant even tell you one or can I.But my favorite story of them all A Camping Trip which is about (only one story in the book)these kids who go to this haunted camp were a girl died and one night when they were telling scary story's and Mr.Kane stood up and made all these sounds and muttered the words that brought the ghost to life.and that's all i can tell you for now , you have to read it yourself to figure out the rest (oh and this kid Jeremy didn't want to go to that camp because he already knew what was waiting to be summoned.
Well Mr.Kane is a teacher at Jeremy's school, also hes the only one who told the story and sees the ghost and, hes the only teacher there so hes the only (Adult)to many kids for him.Jeremy is a student at the school, and knows the camp is haunted, also is the youngest camper and that's not good news the younger the more they believe.The similarities they have is that hey both go to the same school(Mr.Kane teacher Jeremy student),Both are boys except one older.And most of all knows there's a ghost.
I would recommend this book to any grade or person.Because some high school students love scary book , also some middle school students like scary stories in Elementary.So i strongly think you guys should read this but only those who like scary stories remember this is only one of the gruesome story's in the book.
Well Mr.Kane is a teacher at Jeremy's school, also hes the only one who told the story and sees the ghost and, hes the only teacher there so hes the only (Adult)to many kids for him.Jeremy is a student at the school, and knows the camp is haunted, also is the youngest camper and that's not good news the younger the more they believe.The similarities they have is that hey both go to the same school(Mr.Kane teacher Jeremy student),Both are boys except one older.And most of all knows there's a ghost.
I would recommend this book to any grade or person.Because some high school students love scary book , also some middle school students like scary stories in Elementary.So i strongly think you guys should read this but only those who like scary stories remember this is only one of the gruesome story's in the book.
July 10, 2007
These are mostly throwaway generic horror stories for kids.
October 17, 2008
Perfect for sleep-overs, but a little bland for my taste
January 22, 2017
Perfect for sleepovers.
July 13, 2012
Stupid juvenile horror stories with some interesting early illustrations by the Ricardo Delgado.
Read
September 13, 2018it was good i loved it it was a little scary.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews