Ask the Bones: Scary Stories from Around the World

by Various, Howard Schwartz, Arielle North Olson, et al.

Book Overview

What is real and what is imaginary? Do evil creatures lurk in the shadows? Do demons attack the helpless? Are there such things as invisible men? For generations, storytellers have given substance to our worst fears. In Ask the Bones, master storytellers Arielle North Olson and Howard Schwartz retell a varied selection of the world's most frightening folktales. Be warned-these stories could scare you to death!

Illustrated by David Linn.

"These...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 014230140X
• ISBN13: 9780142301401
• Release Date: August 2002
• Publisher: Puffin Books
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.0" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

REALLY GOOD!

wHAT IS REAL AND WHAT IS IMAGINARY? dO EVIL CREATURES LURK IN THE SHADOWS? DO demonS ATTack ThE WeaK? ARE TherE SuCH THinGS As INviSIble PeoPLE? FINd Out aLL The ANSwerS In ASK THE BONES. In ThiS BooK, StORYtEllER ARIELLE NORTH OLSON RetELLS SeVERal HAuntiNG FolKTAles FRom ALL ArounD THe WOrld INcluDinG THE FOUR FOOTED HORROR, THE DRIPPING CUTLASS, THE BRIDAL GOWN AND FIDDLING WITH FIRE. EAcH And eveRY StoRY BEing SCAry EnOUgH To GIve KiDS NIGhtmarES, ShoRT BUT NOt ToO ShoRt To MAke A ReaL GoOd REAd AlouD AnD EasY To REaD, ALL In All tHis IS A ReaLLY GOOd BooK. THiS BooK AlSo InclUdes BeaTIFul BLAck AnD WHiTe IllUstRatIoNS WHiCh ADD SUspEnSe, THRill And ScarINESs To THe TAle. So WATCha WAitIN' FoR? GO rEaD ASK THE BONES!

Next-To-Kin

The book Ask The Bones retold by Arielle North Olson and Howard Schwart, is a great book. This book has many stories from around the world but my favorite one is called " Next- To- Kin." This story is about this boy's aunt that is very jealous if someone goes near her husband and she has a forked tongue. She can also turn into a snake but the boy does not know this. Once the aunt grabbed the boy in jealousy and stuck her fingernails in his skin. The boy went to the old man so he could heal the wound. The old man was very wise and told the boy that his aunt is really a snake women! The old man said "If you really want to see if she really is a snake women, then, when she turns into a snake cut off the tip of the tail. If she is wounded tomorrow that means she is a snake women." The old man continued " And if you see the snake skin around then burn it so the snake women could die!" That night the boy was awake for the whole night to see if the old man was right. The snake came under the door and SLASH, the boy cut of the tip of the snake's tail. The snake went back to the other room. In the morning the boy's aunt's toe was wounded and she said she needed to rest and so she did. When the boy's aunt was better, the boy went to the room she was in and found snake skin! He quickly took it and burned it in his room. ...If you want to know what happened to the boy and his uncle then read, Ask The Bones and the story "Next- To- Kin."

The scariest stories that kids read

I think this book is good for kids that can handle very scary stories. If you do not like to read scary stories, do not read this book at all. I think that the grownups would like the story called, "The Handkerchief." I think grownups would like it because it is very scary, and I think that's what you grownups like. I think this book is appropriate for 7 to 13 year olds. I think that because I have just begun to read it this year, and I'm sure I would have liked it last year. I'm eight right now. Even though you may be older than 13, you may still like this book. The book is pretty scary. A lot of kids fight over this book at school because they think it is the greatest.

Kids will scare themselves silly with these horror stories

If you're heading to camp this summer, this might be the perfect book to read before you go. It's not a handbook or manual on survival, rather it's a compilation of 22 scary folktales to tell around the fire or during a late-night gabfest in the cabin. Between these pages you'll encounter ghosts, witches, demons, evil eyes, giants, monsters, talking heads and other beasties from near and far, Japan to Iceland, Eastern Europe to Mexico. The sources for the tales are listed at the back of the book. Many of them come from respected regional and national archives.Even so, the stories vary in their effectiveness and "scare factor." Some don't rise much above the level of urban legends passed around on the Internet. Others, like the title story, are true folk tales, with obvious staying power.The stories are short, just five-six pages each. Several of them are illustrated with pencil drawings, which are moody, if not exactly scary. Older elementary and middle school students will get a kick out of scaring themselves silly with these horror stories.

Fascinating festival of international ghost tales

In the tradition of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "The Turn of the Screw," "Ask the Bones" brings us ghosts that win! Only a few of the victims in these stories manage to escape, and even they have bad dreams for a long time. My favorite was the voodoo curse that turns a cruel slave master and his family into barnyard animals. All sources attributed in the appendix.