The Scary States of America

August 1, 2007
Gr 4-7-The pseudonymous Jason Specter, the teen protagonist of this anthology, runs a blog called "Scary States of America," in which he invites readers to submit stories of aliens, monsters, spooks, and psychic experiences from everywhere in the U.S. Here, "Specter" says in the introduction, are his "50 favorites," one from each state, and all supposedly based on "true events." Some of the stories are based on folklorethe New Mexico story concerns the aliens supposedly found at Roswell, for example, and the Florida entry tells a tale of the Skunk Ape of the Evergladesbut others could have happened in any state. The individual tales, ranging from 6 to 10 pages each, are uneven, but mostly entertaining, and many will raise some large goosebumps. Their impact is dampened, though, because most have similar themesthe two most common kinds of stories here are one in which a teen scoffs at an old story until encountering the related ghost or alien and another in which a family moves into a house with a grisly past. It's unlikely that readers will do much more than read the story about their states, along with a few others."Walter Minkel, New York Public Library"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2007
The author of numerous series nonfiction and other titles here offers a collection of short stories highlighting all things paranormal. Using the persona of 12-year-old Internet-geek Jason Specter, Teitelbaum presents narratives for each of the 50 states thathe says were offered to him by visitors to his blog. Tales range from an Alaska wildlife photographer being chased by an angry Bigfoot, to a young Indiana girl haunting the covered bridge where she lost her life, to a UFO landing in an Iowa crop circle. Some, like The Hitchhiker, from Alabama, will be familiar to urban-legend aficionados. Many accounts lean toward the grisly (including knife slashings and maggot-filled bodies), but other anecdotes draw attention to gentle apparitions trying to do good deeds for their loved ones. Give this to fans of Alvin Schwartzs Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series; computer-savvy readers will also want to check out the books Web site, which includes excerpts from the text.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)