Tales from Beyond the Brain

June 1, 2019
Thirteen short stories to creep out kids. Fans of Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark looking for a modern spin will find exactly what they want in this offering. Typical trials and tribulations in children's lives are twisted toward the uncanny, as when a popcorn kernel lodged between Jamie's teeth turns into a mouthful of twisted fangs with minds of their own. Or when a paper airplane accidentally cuts a hole in reality. Hughes'moody black-and-white illustrations highlight disturbing moments in each story, drawing easy parallels to Stephen Gammell's nightmare-inducing artwork that accompanies Alvin Schwartz's classic. Each story is between 10 and 20 pages, making the volume easy to put down at bedtime or pick up in the light of day, though this brevity means that characterization and emotional depth are sacrificed in exchange for action and chills. None of the characters are explicitly racialized, implying the white default, and all of the scenarios feel firmly and nondescriptly middle-class. Readers will get an additional thrill when they realize that many of these stories don't have endings, and they may find themselves looking askance at the next stray cat or grumpy bus driver. A good choice for middle-grade readers looking for something smart and scary. (Horror. 8-13)

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September 2, 2019
Reminiscent of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series, the 13 stories in this collection feature ordinary kids in situations of spine-tingling (and sometimes hilarious) supernatural peril. A popcorn kernel stuck between Jamie’s teeth grows into a set of terrifying, sentient fangs in “A Kernel Takes Root”; a seemingly innocuous cat leads well-intentioned Greg woefully astray in “Whiskers”; and the brain Alice finds in the gutter on her way home holds both the answers to her homework and deeply malevolent intentions in “Two Brains, One Alice.” Written in a snappy, declarative style—“Megan figured it was because she was kind of like a bee herself... But, like a bee, when Megan got angry, she could sting”—each tale quickly builds suspense before closing with a zing. Hughes’s illustrations punctuate the text with cartoonishly realistic images that range from eerie luminescent figures to gory eyeballs, complementing the stories to effectively introduce young readers to the pleasures of the genre. Ages 9–12.