LOVED it! I have been wanting to read this book for a long time and it made me remember what a good author he was. I really miss his work.

By the author of the Redwall series, these were a lot of fun to read! Though I didn't think they were as good as the Redwall books, I did enjoy reading this collection of stories that were not about Jacques' signature animal characters. If you want something to read on a quiet evening, then this book of scary stories is for you! My favorite was the Medusa tale, but I think Jacques put just as much thought into these yarns as he did in his Redwall collection. Fans of his work will notice some similarity in people's dialects here as were voiced by the Redwall characters.

Book Talk: This collection of short stories may be by the author of Redwall, but if you're looking for cuddly animals you're looking in the wrong place. These stories mostly revolve around school-aged human youth and the creatures that do appear in the stories are anything but cuddly. If you want to find out what a Ribbajack is and what it can do, then pick up this book. I'd wait until day light to read it, though.

Rocks my Socks: These stories are wonderfully atmospheric and perfectly capture the horror that literature has taught me to associate with English boarding schools and the countryside of Great Britain and Ireland in general. Thank goodness I was raised in America! On a more serious note, these stories have a dahl-esque sense of dark justice that I simply adore. The sense of justice, albeit dark, means that there are also some nice little morals in the stories. Also like Dahl, the stories are definitely dark, but they're actually not terribly violent. The violent bits that do exist are mostly left up to the imagination rather than described in detail, which I prefer.

Rocks in my Socks: As much as I enjoyed the atmosphere of these stories the pacing was a bit slow at times. I started reading this book in the spring and only finished it in November. The stories were good and I enjoyed them when I eventually sat down to read one, but I never felt particularly compelled to keep on reading.

Every Book its Reader: I'd recommend this to fans of suspense/horror or anyone with a taste for dark literature. The gender of the main characters switches depending on the story so I think it would be great for both boys and girls. As I said it's not graphically violent, but it is rather dark. I'd suggest it for 7th and up.

Read more of my reviews at http://auldschoollibrarian.blogspot.com

This is a good compilation of short stories and really spooky. Each story keeps you wondering what will happen next!

I really enjoyed this short horror story collection for kids! Especially the Smile and Wave and even the Mystery of Huma D'Este. I originally borrowed this from the library to read with the kids I tutor, but I found myself reading it in my own spare time for the sheer thrill and enjoyment.

I am a life long, die hard Redwall fan, but this was pretty bad. If I find a book in the horror section, I better be sleeping with the lights on that night. This wasn't even creepy, let alone scary. Any one of the Redwall books is creepier than this book. The only mildly promising story was "The Ribbajack". Had that story been added to and turned into a 167 pages there might have been something. The only other story I didn't completely struggle through was "Rosie's Pet", and it was cute, not scary.

I probably would have enjoyed these more if I read them with the right accent.

A bit haunting, but not too "much", so I guess the "faint-hearted" could read this book and not get "too many" chills at bedtime.

Ok, so I only read the first story, "The Ribbajack," which I enjoyed. Then I got two pages into the second story and lost interest. What can I say? I had other books I wanted to read, lol!

I never thought I’d give this low of a rating to a book by Brian Jacques, but these stories were bland, boring, and not at all scary.

I loved this book. A big part because it is not a typical fluffy fairy tale book, even though it is comprised of short fantastical stories, and the endings are mostly positive. I imagine I will read this to my kids quite often as they grow.

Nice spooky stories