Book of the Week: Who's Been Sleeping in my Grave? (Ghosts of Fear Street #2) by R. L. Stine

Fueled by fond library memories of my childhood perusing the shelves and grabbing the most intensely-shaded books with the brightest titles, I was thinking about the Ghosts of Fear Street series this morning. I read all of R. L. Stine's stuff throughout my childhood, stopping with a Nightmare Room book before I finally felt I'd outgrown his stuff. Goosebumps, Fear Street, Ghosts of Fear Street - - I loved them all. Why? Because they were mostly kids books that rarely had a happy ending, and it just felt scarier that way.

Some day I might revisit all of his books, though it'd be a monumental task. Whether they're easy 1-day reads or not, there are a lot of them. However, this one was one of my favorites. A kid has a creepy substitute teacher who has a particular fondness for him. Nostalgia is the main operator here, because I don't remember much. Except the chills that ran down my spine whenever the substitute teacher was described, and when her true identity was revealed in all it's - - gory. (Get it? Gory? Glory?)

Book of the Week: Goosebumps 25th Anniversary Collection by R. L. Stine

Goosebumps is close to my heart. Funny how you can read a book that you love so much, even reading another copy with a different cover just doesn't seem like an option. Don't get me wrong, the redesigns are cute, and it sort of revives the series in a way for a younger generation. Yet I love the old art here. It's very 90s, and very much a slice of my childhood.

I've always love reading, but when I was 6, learning to actively put a sentence together was hard. I'll save you the whole story of how it suddenly 'clicked' one day, and I could read just about anything. Suffice it to say, the first year I could go to that Scholastics book fair with money in hand and the knowledge that I could read whatever I bought without any help was magical. So I got a VHS of The Haunted Mask (which I still have), and a goosebumps book with a pumpkin book light. I'm not going to lie, the book light was what sold it. I think I bought Welcome to Dead House. It was '97, and Goosebumps was the series that all the kids were reading. The show had just launched, too, and I remember rushing home every day to watch it. There's not usually a huge scare in the Goosebumps books. Most of them have ambiguously an happy ending (yes, the day is saved...but you're a monster, or that sponge is going to wreak havoc when it gets wet again, or your dad might be one of the hundreds of plants in the front yard.) The next dark step up from Goosebumps was Ghosts of Fear Street, and then Fear Street when you were really ready for something 'darker and more mature'. Something for the teenagers.

My point is that I got this collection as a gift, it's amazing, and I'm pretty sure it could all be easily read in the course of a day by anyone of any age, and still feel just as magical as it did to me that day at the book fair when I bought my first Goosebumps.

Halloween Playlist 2016

This year I'm going to try something a little different for the Halloween party playlist. Instead of music, I decided to bring you all back to your childhoods, or perhaps give the kids something to pass the time after their late night trick-or-treating festivities are over, and they're far too tired to sort their candy out before bed. This list contains cartoons, classic tv shows, and even commercials that I've gleaned from Youtube.

Alas and alack, they may eventually be taken down, but certainly not before this year's Spooky celebrations. So, without further ado, I give you...My Halloween 2016 Party Playlist!

Some of the videos may not play on the blog, but don't worry. You can find the direct playlist here!

Horror Flick of the Week: Gremlins (1984)

Fresh from the theaters after giving Krampus a go, I was reminded why I liked Gremlins. First things first, I would like to say I did not hate Krampus at all. There may have been points where it seemed to drag, or I just didn't like the choices made by the writers, it was definitely a visual feast with some awesome combinations of physical and digital effects...which is a very difficult line to straddle.

BUT...it didn't capture what Gremlins did back in 84. I don't really blame Krampus for this. I blame Gremlins...for being just that awesome. Gremlins captures the seasonal spirit of Christmas without becoming bitter. It has no message about families losing their sight of what really matters. It's just a story about evil little creatures that terrorize a small, but charming town on Christmas. And...that's kind of all I want to watch this year. I won't be foregoing my traditional viewing of Black Christmas, but...I just love Gremlins so much. Even the sequel.

It's got a great cast, a charming soundtrack, fantastic physical effects, and a sweet storyline...but it's still creepy enough to be classified as a comedy horror. What's more, it's something you can actually enjoy with kids, rather than certain other Christmas classics such as 'Silent Night, Deadly Night', or 'Treevenge'.

If you somehow have managed to avoid seeing Gremlins, because television is a relatively new discovery in your region of the world, or if you just...avoided it...or even have seen it, but not in quite some time. Do yourself a favor. Give Gremlins a shot this month. And don't feed them after midnight, trust me, I'm still cleaning up the green sludge in the kitchen.

Book(s) of the Week: Monster of the Year

As a kid, when I wanted a spooky book at the school library, I'll admit I judged everything by the cover. In early elementary school, I adored the card catalogue (I'm sure some of you remember those huge filing cabinets with 'key words' scrawled in .2 size font.) I knew that without fail, Bruce Coville always had books with the best covers. I still remember the day I found this book based on the key word 'monster'.

It was cute, it was fun, and it was perfect for a kid like myself...who enjoyed nothing more than putting as many monsters together in one story as possible. It's basically about a boy who gets a gift from his dad: a billboard. He can do anything he wants with that little bit of ad space...so he decides to make something fun. A piece of art for a 'monster contest'. What he doesn't expect, however, is monsters from around the world showing up to take part. Who knew roadside ads were so effective?