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Creepy Urban Legends

Creepy Urban Legends - Tim O'Shei, Kelly Garvin
I came across this book while doing inventory at the library. I thought it looked interesting. An urban legend, “is a surprising, often scary story that is told as if it were true.” These are usually spread by word of mouth or by e-mail and happened recently or not that long ago. They prey upon an individual’s common fears (babysitting at night, sleeping at night) and they usually teach people a lesson.
 
I guess I didn’t realize that an urban legend had all these traits associated with them. Inside this non-fiction children’s book, you will find examples of a few urban legends which are arranged into three sections, Scary, Very Scary and Freaky Scary. There is also a section titled Fact or Fiction? There is a Glossary that lists a few words and their definitions, another page which lists internet sites and books if you want more information on urban legends and finally, on the back page an index.
 
I found it interesting that each section wasn’t labeled. There is nothing to tell you what type of story you are read: Scary, Very Scary or Freaky Scary when you are on that page besides by going to the table of contents.
 
Did I think they were scary? A couple of them were pretty good. A couple of them I have heard before (a slightly different version) and two of them I didn’t find scary at all. All the stories have illustrations with them and sometimes a fear fact. The wording is not hard to read (perhaps 4th or 5th grade). The pictures are not gory but a few are mysterious. For children, I think this depends on the reader and whether the child can handle this material.