The Cabinet of Curiosities

Starred review from May 26, 2014
This collection of 36 short dark fantasies from Bachmann, Catmull, Legrand, and Trevayne aspires to sit on the same shelf as Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and succeeds admirably. The conceit is that the authors are curators of the eponymous cabinet, a magical museum that houses the often-dangerous souvenirs and stories they bring back from their Indiana Jonesâlike adventures. Among the many delicious tales are Bachmann's "Johnny Knockers," which concerns the fate of a whaling ship after its crew discovers a small boy inside a whale; Legrand's "Mirror, Mirror," which tells of a nasty preteen who looks into a mirror and finds more than she bargained for; Trevayne's "The Circus," the story of a traveling circus's horrifyingly bad luck; and Catmull's "Dark Valentine," which illustrates why you don't want your dead girlfriend contacting you by cellphone. Many of these are moral tales in which nasty children or adults die horribly; others, though, feature perfectly nice people who meet similarly gruesome ends. Readers who enjoy their Halloween chills all year round will find this anthology a delight. Ages 8â12.

July 1, 2014

Gr 5-7-Chilling, thrilling, and occasionally startlingly bleak, this collection of short stories is arranged through an ingenious conceit: the tales are housed in the imaginary cabinet of the title. The tales which live in this cabinet of the strange and sinister have been collected (written) by four different curators (authors): Stefan Bachmann, Katherine Catmull, Claire Legrand, and Emma Trevayne. Themes are introduced through letters sent back and forth between the curators, each of whom assumes a different persona, which helps build a world around the stories themselves. Fans of shivery tales will find much to appreciate here, from dolls who love their playmates a little too much to luck that comes at a high price. Taken as a whole, however, a dark, almost nihilistic feeling pervades the stories, bringing the potential audience into question. Short enough to be read aloud, the book invites comparisons to Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (HarperCollins, 1981), though readers may leave this cabinet with lingering feelings of dread, rather than the cathartic jolt of a jump scare.-Elisabeth Gattullo Marrocolla, Darien Library, CT

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