When the Lights Go Out: Twenty Scary Tales to Tell

by Margaret Read MacDonald, Roxane Murphy (Illustrator)

Designed primarily as a collection of scary fare for adults to tell elementary-age children, the tales may be read and some even told by children. Also contains notes on the stories.

Some very scary, some quite mild, some really gross. All easy-to-tell. Includes: “Little Buttercup” (Norway); “Wee Little Tyke” (England); “Looking for Home” (England); “Wicked John and the Devil”(Appalachian); “The Great Red Cat”(Scotland); “The Wizard Clip” (West Virginia); “The Tinker and the Ghost”(Spain); “The Conjure Wives”(Appalachia); “Sop Doll”(Appalachia); “The Hobyahs” (Australia); “Old Ben” (Appalachia); “Sam’l” (England); “Cat with the Beckoning Paw”(Japan); “Totanguak”(Eskimo); “Red Silk Handkerchief” (England); “Strange Visitor”(England); “Who Lives in the Skull?” (Russia); “Let’s Go on a Ghost Hunt” (American); “Tale of a Black Cat” (American); “Witches’ Brew” (US).

Genres: Halloween, Horror

176 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1988

About the author

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Biography
Dr. Margaret Read MacDonald travels the world telling stories....always on the lookout for more great folktales to share. She shapes these found stories into tellable tales which anyone can share with ease. Filling her folktale collections with these delightful tales, she creates perfect read alouds for you and your family. MRM wants everyone to experience the joy of a beautifully told tale. She hopes you will read them a few times...then put down the book...put down the electronic device...and just TELL the story to your children!

Some of her favorite folktales she expands into picture books...hopefully with delightfully readable language while will roll right out of your mouth. Share them with your children and then....act the tales out! Revisit the tales by TELLING them! At bedtime. While on the road. Fill your pockets with great stories to share wherever you go.

Joining her Folklore Ph.D. with her 30 plus years as a children's librarian, Margaret brings folktales to life in playful, lilting language which should delight both reader and listener.

See her performance schedule at: www.margaretreadmaconald.com

Reviews

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Margaret Read MacDonald definitely knows how to pick great stories! Scary stories can be so hard to find. Hard to have just the right story that is not too scary for the little ones and scary enough for the big listeners. What I liked most about this collection was Margaret Read MacDonald's notes for telling after the story. Especially her honesty about some of the stories she didn't really like but her fifth grade boy listeners did. I will definitely try more than I ordinarily would have based on these notes.

[Asia Ludwig · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has a lot of little stories in it, so I didn't get bored reading the same story. The last story I got to say was the best because it was so interesting! My favorite part was when the a boy wakes up in the middle of the night because he can't sleep. So he starts playing with string and making shapes and then a guy comes in and they play a game. If the guy wins, the kids goes with him or if the kid wins the guy leaves and his dad woke up so the guy disappeared. Then after that the kid never stayed awake playing with a piece of string.

I would recommend this book to people who like horror books and books with mini stories in it. I hope that people will like this book like I liked this book. If you haven't read this book, I hope you will look for this book in the library and read it because it is a very good book.

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Learned 1 ok scary story, the tinker and the ghost. The quest continues.

[Salsabrarian]

Stories: "The Wizard Clip" (snipping scissors on 61) and "Witches Brew" (stew on overhead projector 159) are included. Also a string story "Totanguak."