Triple-Dare to Be Scared: Thirteen Further Freaky Tales

Dare to Be Scared #3

by Robert D. San Souci, David Ouimet (Illustrations)

Scary stories are a perennial favorite among youngsters, and Robert D. San Souci obliges them with 13 more spine-tingling horror stories in Triple-Dare to Be Scared. Each elegantly crafted vignette draws readers into the life of a young person like themselves just as a bad decision or an act of fate brings the characters face-to-face with the supernatural. Each story hurtles through twists and turns toward a surprise ending much more compelling than in a traditional spook story. “Second Childhood” wonders where to take shelter from a recently awakened child-ghost? (Answer: Not its former home!) “Plat-Eye” features twins who learn why they should be afraid of a big, bad shapechanger who’s paying a little too much attention to them. “Far Site” expands a video game into something much larger — and more frightening! “Field of Nightmares” turns an innocent baseball game on old man Fletcher’s field into a fight for life. These exciting stories feature children of various ethnicities taking on all manner of threats from beyond the grave — and beyond logic — while David Ouimet’s creepy illustrations add that extra twinge of terror.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Paranormal

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Robert Daniel San Souci (October 10, 1946 – December 19, 2014) was a multiple award-winning children's book author, who resided in San Francisco, California. He often worked with his brother, Daniel San Souci, a children's book illustrator. He was a consultant to Disney Studios and was instrumental in the production of the film Mulan, for which he wrote the story. He studied folklore in graduate school. He died after suffering a head injury while falling from a high height in San Francisco in December 2014. He was only 68 years old.

Reviews

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a good short story collection. Some of the stories were ok and some were very creepy and freaky. If you like horror stories, check this out at your local library and wherever books are sold.

[Austin Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another solid collection in the Dare to be Scared series. I was a bit apprehensive after reading the first few stories, which were kind of mediocre, but the book shines in the second half with some eerie moments and scenes and some really fun and creative ideas. Not quite my favorite book in this series but a solid entry nonetheless.

Second Childhood - 2.75/5

They Bite, Too! - 2.75/5

Plat-eye - 3/5

Tour De Force - 3.25/5

Underwater - 3/5

Far Site - 3.75/5
This one is a highlight of the book. It introduces some really cool ideas but doesn't have the time or page length to explore this idea as much as it could have. Still, this is a somber and eerie techno-horror story dealing with computers and the beyond.

Field of Nightmares - 3.75/5
(This one is a really fun story about a kid that accidentally conjures up some demons during his friends baseball game [don't mess with black magic, folks] and the monstrous creatures force the kids to play a game of baseball with them, and if the kids lose, they will be eaten. While this story wasn't perfect; it didn't give enough attention or detail to the game itself between the monsters and the kids, and felt a bit abrupt, the idea itself was so much fun that I really enjoyed this one.

The Double - 3/5

John Mouldy - 3/5

Green Thumb - 3.25/5

El Arroyo de Los Fantasmas - 3.5/5

Bookworm - 3.5/5

Rain - 3.25/5

Field of Nightmares and Far Site are the highlights of this book, but I also really enjoyed the last few stories in here as well. There were a few okay/slightly mediocre ones but none that I would say are bad. This was a fun and creepy collection of short stories I would recommend checking out, along with the rest of the books in this series!

[Oliver Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

4 1/2 stars
This was better than the 4th book from the series, I really liked most of the stories, some felt flat but this is a great collection.
Here's a personal review of all the stories from the book.
Second childhood: a boy is chased into the home of a strange little boy who might not be as innocent as he seems. I rate this story 4 out of 5, I liked the concept of the story and felt it was executed very well, plus that ending was bone chilling
They bite too: a boy takes an unauthorized souvenir from his family's vacation, unaware that the local creatures don't take kindly to thieves.
I REALLY liked this story, it was a bit dark for a children's story but some children like their stories a bit darker, that being said I did feel like the ending went a bit too far. I rate this story 5 out of 5
Plat eye: two twin siblings take a shortcut through the woods ignoring their grandmother's warnings, they should have listened. I rate this story 4 and a half out of 5, the concept has been done before but it was well written and creepy as hell, good ending as well.
Tour de force: two young boys go to a music festival together and discover what secrets lie backstage. I rate this story 3 out of 5. This was an okay story, I feel like it was an attempt to make a cosmic horror story for middle grade readers, and I've never loked cosmic horror that much, maybe a cosmic horror fan would like this story more.
Underwater: a young child discovers that his fear of water is a sign of something deeper. I rate this story 3 out of five, i didn't love this story, it was kind of boring until the end and the end wasnt very satisfying
Far site: a young boy gets a disturbing message from a friend he thought he'd never hear from again. Tech horror is a favorite genre of mine, this story felt very dreary/ depressing but in a good way that mixed well with the tech elements, I rate this story 4.5 out of 5
El arroyo de las fantasmas: three children test a local legend but discover it's more fact than fiction. this is a really creepy one, it's fast paced and thrilling and I loved the monsters, great ending as well if a little bit predictable. I rate this story 4 out of 5.
John mouldy: a creepy children's poem leads a young boy to discover something horrifying in his new house. I rate this story 5 out of 5 it was original and spine tingling, it's everything you want in a campfire story, that ending was insane as well.
Field of nightmares: a group of neighborhood kids play a not so normal game of baseball, I rate this story 3 out of 5, it was a very original concept and it was pretty out there but I think it was a bit too strange for me .
Bookworm: a boy learns that there's something hiding in between the pages of the books he feels so loving towards. I just didn't like this one that much, I felt it was a bit too confusing, i had no idea what was going on. I rate it 2 out of 5
The double: a girl becomes paranoid that someone or something is trying to take over her life, I rate this story 4 out of 5, I love stories of doubles/doppelgangers and this one was strange and creepy, it was a fun scary story.
Green thumb: a young girl befriends an old lady who might be a witch, I rate this story 5 out of 5 this was probably my favorite of the bunch, I love revenge stories and boy was this a good one, I also loved the open endedness of the ending with our main character discovering just how powerul she really is.
Rain: two young girls try to play a cruel prank but it backfires immensely. I loved this ending story, way better than the ending story for the fourth installment of the franchise,I really enjoyed the storytelling in this and that ending was absolutely scream endicing. I rate this story 5 out of 5

[Nemo T · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5
It was okay some stories better than others. I did really like green thumb.

[Raiyan Deenar]

It included more stories and was not just one storie but a mix mash of long short stories. It worked out pretty well. I would recommend this book If you are on a ON a drive or by a campfire. There were some stories such as the one about Madeline and the ghoul that were just borderline creepy or messed up. But still this book is not that that surprising and uses elements of modern day horror trying to scare people but it didn't work for me. This book in my thought was that it was just a quick fun read. A book that you can read with people in the dark.

[Camren Fletcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Q. What did you like about this book?

A. What I enjoyed about Triple Dare to be Scared was that it made me cringe, shutter, and gave me goosebumps. It was really scary, and kind of eere at some points. My favorite story in this book was the one about a boy who goes to Hawaii for vacation and he steals a cursed tiki statue that he found in a vacant cave surrounded by berries as if it were for an offering. When he stole the tiki head he found out that it was cursed by a supposed myth called the eekas. The eekas are small creatures with hands of people and feet of lizards. You'd have to read this story to find how it ends.

Q.What words would you use to describe this book?

A The words I would use to describe Triple Dare to be Scared are creepy, scary, eary, horrific, and frightening but don't get me wrong, I did love this book. It was exactly what I was looking for when I said that i wanted a Horror book. It was wonderfuly horrid. Some of the things that made it so scary was the fact that some stories were very believable. For instance, there was a story that a demon haunted a forest that a few kids lived by. They wanted to test the myth, so one night they went and spent the night in the forest and taunted the demon. Well that night they heard somebody crying and moaning and screaming. As for the end? Read it and find out.

[Asia Ludwig · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was better then the second book and I really liked this book. The funniest part in this book was when this guy started laughing and his head wait I shouldn't tell you. If you want to find out what the funny part is then you should read this book. This book has more funny stories then scary I think. I recommend this book to people that like scary books but then end up liking it because its funny at some parts. I think if you read this book you would like it as much as I did. The author did a very good job on this book. now all you have to do is read it and find out if you like it.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very spooky stories with very few happy endings.

[Aiesha Anchan]

Let's just say, I had a hard time sleeping that night.

[Kandyce Kitto · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought that this book was pretty good I mean it wasn't my favorite but it was ok!

[Devan Lawhorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really scary and horror book that was awesome and i loved this book.