FINISHED:

Coville, Bruce. (2008). Oddest of all. Orlando, FL: Harcourt.

[Here's my review for ACL:

In a spooky house on a rainy night, Chris and Nine help a woman to make amends with her dead mother who has been haunting her; Harley Burton finds himself in the possession of a creepy mask that looks suspiciously like a young man who has been missing for 50 years; Dennis comes to find out, after being pulled down into a pond, that he is part frog and is enlisted to speak for frogs who are victims of toxic waste dumping; in a “Tiger or the Lady” tale, humankind must decide whether they believe the good intentions of aliens who say they would like to help rid Earth of it’s problems. These, and five other tales of the twisted and fantastic are told in Coville’s latest short story collection, each tale being his own take on certain “scary story” standards. Coville hits on many different genres here, including science fiction, gothic horror, ghost, fantasy, and realism (13-year-old Murphy is recruited by the girl of his dreams to take part in a skit, written by, and opposite her, titled Debbie and the Doofus), and each is deftly set apart by it’s own language apropos to the genre. There are some nice chills and genuine creepiness here sure to appease hungry young fans of scary stories. It should be noted that there is a reference to marijuana in one of the tales, and that many of these stories have appeared, albeit in slightly different forms, in previously published short story collections.]

STARTED:
Pfeffer, Susan Beth. (2008). The dead and the gone. Orlando, FL: Harcourt.

[Reading and reviewing for ACL.]

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