Curses Inc. and Other Stories: And Other Stories

by Vivian Vande Velde

Book Overview

A spell that gets you land, money, long golden hair, or a date to the prom can't be a curse, can it? A curse just gets you "dead." Or does it?. . . In these ten stunning short stories, boys and girls... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0440227674
• ISBN13: 9780440227670
• Release Date: September 1998
• Publisher: Laurel Leaf Library
• Length: 226 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 4.2" x 6.9"
• Age Range: 12 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12

Customer Reviews

Curses Inc. and other storie BY: Vivian Vande Velde

Have you ever been creped out by those creepy camp stories your friends tell you? If you don't you sure will now. In this book there are many creepy stories. All different in their own creepy way; but, yet they are very much alike. These short stories are the kind that you ask yourself how is it possible. They're all about the things you think aren't very creepy like witches or ghost; but, They're not just regular creepy things they're the kind of creepy that makes the hairs on your back stand out. No genius can figure out the trick behind these magic tricks. None of these stories have a part when you think you got how the story is possibly so weird. There's no part where you can say "that's not creepy." These stories are all creepy and weird; but, no one is weirder than the other. All give you that chill down your spine when you just feel that something isn't right; that something's bad is about to happen. Curses Inc. is one of my favorite stories; but, it is no creepier than any other story in the book. This story is about a boy named Bill Essler and how he tries to get back at his x-girlfriend Denise Bainbridge for humiliating him in front of the whole school. Bill's family was kind of poor. So when he asked his parents to buy the close he needed for the dance they said no. they didn't have enough money to buy the clothes he picked out. Bill didn't want to spend a huge chunk of his money which he planed on saving for video games for one dance. So he told Denise he couldn't take her to the dance. That is when she completely humiliated Bill in front of the whole school when she yelled out that he was a cheap loser. He was so mad when he got home he went straight to his computer to search on the internet for something to keep his mind off of being humiliated in front of the whole school. He found this site called Curses Inc. When he went on this sight he was bored enough to check it out; but, he wasn't expecting it to show some words. He didn't even know what some of the words were. The words were jinx, geas; malediction; hex, and bane. He clicked on the word jinx. It gave him the definition of the word and some examples for all of the words. It was a sight of things that you could make happen to people. The sight was basically as its name states Curses Inc. The sight was basically a place to put different kinds of curses on people. Bill wanted to get back at Denise. So he made a curse to make her lose her dog. Denise lost her dog; but, she lost her dog for 15 minutes. Bill was so mad that he wasted his money on that. He kept going back to the site to complain and then try another way of making Denise suffer. He lost all of his money because every time he tried to make something bad happen to her she would get lucky and somehow get out of the situation. In the end everything he tried didn't work. Denise's life stayed great while he lost all of his money. Another story was about a woman who could make wishes that came true. The woman's name was

wow.

At first I couldn't stand how these stories end, but then I realized that if they ended the way I wished they would, they wouldn't be half as interesting or as thought-provoking. It would just be a well told, cliched archetype we've all heard a million times.Fives points to Vivian Vande Velde for another awesome book!

Entertaining, funny, and twisted...

I bought this due to the title...I especially liked the "witchhunt". Imagine how correct that is, fairy tales do give us the hard track in life. But I noticed that it twisted the stories and made them more entertaining. A definite 10!

A Terrific Collection of Short Stories

I am a 13 year old, and Im pretty new to short stories, but after I found this great book at my bookstore, I knew I was hooked. The title story is hilarious, and has a great ending. Vande Velde has a great sense for making funny, spooky, kooky and intelligent short stories, yet doesnt bore you or overdose on gore. I loved this book, and Ill be sure to get other books from Vivian Vabde Velde!

Halarious!!

I loved this collection of short stories!! They were so funny! I especially liked the little introduction at the beginning, kinda like a mini autobiography! My personal favorite was the story of the girl that had her hair cut off by her own brother. It was great!