I may have never read these books, and if I did I don't remember, but aren't the covers amazing? On 'Missing' it looks like the girl is dancing and the guy was lifted right out of the 'Take On Me' video. I may be crazy but I have a feeling that the New Girl's secret is that she's a ghost. It's a just a hunch, but no one walks down that creepy street unless they're some kind of spirit, and she's kind of glowing too...total ghost. If I found these books at a thrift store I would fight babies to get them. That's not true, but I would be bummed if the babies beat me to them.
I have vivid memories of sitting in the backseat of my aunt's car reading 'Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark' and being...riveted is the only word that comes to mind. I know I'm not alone in thinking these are some of the creepiest images ever, at least in kids books. I don't really even remember the stories, they were secondary to the pictures. I feel like a lot of them were actually like, jokes or 'gotcha' gags. Like the Viper is coming to "vipe your vindows" and the Mexican dog that turned out to be a rat. The pictures always seemed so much more dark and disturbing than anything written. I noticed a bound edition of the series a while back and I didn't get it. Way to go.
This picture is the personification of why it sucks to get old. We've had a snow-a-palooza recently and apparently there's another on the way. This picture is not about shoveling or traffic or being cranky in the cold or missing out on plans...when you're young snow IS the plans. You spend the whole day making forts and throwing snowballs and then you go inside and have hot chocolate (or maybe in my case, hot Ovaltine), watch cartoons and fall asleep until you wake up and do it all over again.
Man the Stine teen series were kick ass, I never got into the Fear Street series but my cousins had the Babysitter books and I loved them, reminded me of late 70's early 80's horror movies. Oddly I just looked them up on wikipedia and it had this to say:
ReplyDelete"It was listed as the 37th most enjoyable book for girls in a 1997 survey on literacy."
Go me.
Yeah, as far as I can remember, I never read Fear Street either, but I remember the Babysitter ones, and one about a girl who has a boyfriend that puts her in a snowman...I believe it may have been called The Snowman.
ReplyDeleteI guess you're not talking about the Babysitter's Club books, of which I was a number one fan. What are these other babysitter books that you speak of? I know that "Logan" never put "Mary Anne" in a snowman.
ReplyDeleteI did read those scary story books with the weirdo pictures. You're totally right about the stories being sub-optimal. There were a lot of illustrations featuring bloody faces if I remember correctly.
I've never even heard of Fear Street - but isn't that the same girl in the same outfit on both covers? She's pretty unlucky to be involved in such dire situations.
There was a series with babysitters and chearleaders too I think. All the plots involved a new guy in town who wasn't what he seemed. That does look like the same girl, how does she do it? Spending all that time on Fear Street?
ReplyDeleteThe babysitter one was about some gal who was babysitting and then some guy kept trying to kill her. Pretty straight forward, think When A Stranger Calls, the original, not the lame remake...
ReplyDeleteSpoiler Alert: He fails.
I just looekd up the cover art and it's exactly what you'd imagine. That's why I prefer Goosebumps, they may be goofy but at least they're inventive...an abominable snowman in Pasadena?? But it's warm there!
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