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Summary
Summary
Everyone loves scary stories and award-winning comedy writer/director Carl Reiner invites readers to huddle close as he tells a young boy's tale of the mysterious house next door.
Something with red beams of light shooting from its eyes was coming down the basement stairs. It came closer and closer... the hair on the back of my neck was sticking straight out. I finally saw it- and it was alive!
As the story becomes spookier and spookier, Reiner pauses to ask "Shall we turn the page- or is it too scary?" That's for you to decide!
Parents and children can read along together as they listen to spooky sound effects and Carl Reiner's hilarious performance of Tell Me a Scary Story ... on the accompanying CD.
Author Notes
Carl Reiner is a twelve-time Emmy-award winning writer, producer, director, and comedian who co-starred in the legendary television program "Your Show of Shows" and created and co-starred in "The Dick Van Dyke Show". He also made comedy history as the co-creator of "The 2,000 Year-Old Man" and has directed many hit feature films including "Oh, God!", "The Jerk", and "All of Me". Mr. Reiner lives with his wife in Beverly Hills, California. Inspired by his grandson, Tell Me a Scary Story... But Not Too Scary! was his first book for children.
James Bennett is the illustrator of the New York Times bestselling Halloween by Jerry Seinfeld. A Hamilton King Award-winning artist from the Society of Illustrators, he has also illustrated for many major publications including Time, Sports Illustrated, and Mad. He lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with his family.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-As this book opens, the author is preparing to tell his tale to a young listener, gently assuring her that he'll stop if it gets too scary. He then proceeds with his story, supposedly a recollection from his own childhood, during which a mysterious man named Mr. Neewollah moved into the house next door. As he watched him unload boxes, something fell out, and when he picked it up, the boy discovered that it was a marble that looked just like an eyeball. He decided to return it at midnight, saw a light in the basement, and fell through the window. This inevitably led to a meeting with his neighbor and the spooky costumes he created. This tale has the makings of a shivery treat, but the surprises are rather predictable and the chills fail to materialize. Reiner continually interrupts his narrative with questions: "This isn't too scary for you, is it?" and "Should I keep going?" and the tale unfolds at a glacial pace. Bennett's cartoon characters with their oversized heads and exaggerated facial features are appropriately grotesque but seem better suited for comedy or parody. The trouble is that readers simply aren't drawn into the young protagonist's story. Stick with old favorites like Bill Martin, Jr.'s The Ghost-Eye Tree (Holt, 1995) or one of Alvin Schwartz's fine collections, such as In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories (HarperCollins, 1984).-Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
A boy sneaks into his neighbor's basement and comes face-to-face with a red-eyed ghoul. "I can't describe this awful monster except to say that it looked exactly like-like the picture on the next page!" gasps comedian Reiner, who asks, "Shall we turn the page-or is it too scary?" Bennett, who caricatures Reiner as he did Jerry Seinfeld in Halloween, doesn't pull punches in his creepy images, and these nearly live up to the narrator's promise to "give you nightmares forever." Gross-out enthusiasts will probably lap this up. Other youngsters, however, may indeed be haunted by the flesh-crawling close-ups of monsters (monster masks, as it turns out) and might prefer Annie Was Warned (reviewed above), which rewards a similarly teasing, scary buildup with a comic ending. Or kids can skip the pictures altogether by listening to the audio CD included here, which features Reiner in a masterly readaloud (but watch out for those irresistible references to turning the page). Ages 4-up. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
When a spooky new neighbor drops a marble that resembles a glass eye, the young narrator returns it in the dead of night. Framed as comedy-legend Carl Reiner's reminiscence to his grandchild, the narrative's refrain (Is it getting too scary for you? Should I keep going?) adds to the suspense, even if the story is anticlimactic and the illustrations overly stylized. A CD featuring Reiner reading the story is included. From HORN BOOK Spring 2004, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Despite its subtitle, this may indeed be too scary for some of its intended audience, though some children just love to be frightened. Exaggerated angles, dramatic dark colors, and distorted facial close-ups both induce and display fear, and the Reiner look-alike narrator seen in the frame story is at least as disturbing as the officially scary neighbor. Catching an eye-like marble that his new neighbor drops, a small boy ventures next door at midnight to return it, and the following events are terrifying despite eventual benign explanations (the neighbor's a costume-maker, it turns out). The rational explanations come too late to assuage readers already frightened, and readers who aren't so frightened may feel condescended to by the narrator's repeated (dare-like) question about whether to continue reading. The illustrations are successful, so choose their audience carefully; the words are too forced to make a shivery tale to be relished. (CD included) (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.