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Hook moon night : spooky tales from the Georgia Mountains -
Faye Gibbons ; illustrated by Ronald Himler.
New York : Morrow Junior Books, 1997.
112 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.
Annotations:
- A collection of eight hair-raising yarns told by mountain people in Georgia while sitting on their front porch many miles from the nearest electric lights and indoor plumbing.
Reading Measurement Programs:
Accelerated Reader
Interest Level Upper Grade
Book Level 4.6
Accelerated Reader Points 3
Reviews:
- Susan Dove Lempke (Booklist, November 1, 1997 (Vol. 94, No. 5))
On a hook moon night, when the moon is just a sliver in the sky, Grandpa tells ghost stories to the family as they listen on the dark porch in the Georgia woods. He begins with the tale of a sick woman who was buried alive by her impatient son-in-law, and continues with stories of such spooky staples as boys disturbing an Indian grave, ghostly piano music, and a shortcut through a graveyard. Each story has one or two black-and-white illustrations, which add a good deal to the atmosphere. Laced with flavorful dialogue ("Ben's skeered of haints"), the stories are just spooky enough to offer a pleasant shiver up the listener's spine: there's no real nightmare material here. Category: Middle Readers. 1997, Morrow, $15. Gr. 3-6.Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, 1997)
While visiting his grandparents, Mike sits on the porch with them and other relatives one dark night, listening to their stories about"haints" and other backwoods phenomena: a boy chosen to be a teacher by a ghost, a quilt that shows pictures of the results of wishes, and a necklace that brings bad luck. Gibbons (Mountain Wedding, 1996, etc.) gives the stories the atmosphere and feel of those told on hot summer nights--loosely structured, meandering narration, vague endings, only modestly creepy--and pulls readers in with vividly imagined scenes and a persuasive intimacy: The stories all happened "hereabouts." It's difficult to conjure up the power of oral storytelling on the page, but in many ways, Gibbons succeeds. B&w Illustrations, Not Seen. 1997, Morrow, $15.00. © 1997 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.Janice M. Del Negro (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, November 1997 (Vol. 51, No. 3))
Using the frame of front-porch storytelling, Gibbons relates some eerie tales from her Georgia childhood. The stories range from "The Burial," about a mother-in-law buried alive by her hasty son-in-law, to "The Painter," featuring a shape-changing, storytelling girl with a vengeful bent, to "The Girl in the Painting," in which a malevolent girl trapped in a painting finally gets out, much to the distress of a young neighbor. Tight plots and punchy conclusions typify offerings such as "The Necklace," in which an old woman gets rid of her bad luck only to steal it back in error. The tales, supposedly being told to youngsters resting on a porch with their elders on a moonlit night, strain the frame after awhile, but they are inherently creepy if not spectacularly scary. Himler's black-and-white ink and wash illustrations feature a number of characters with worried faces and add an appropriately somber note. This collection has something for everyone, from the kid who wants a spooky read to the librarian looking for a successful booktalk to the reader-aloud seeking some chilling new material. An author's note indicates that these are original tales very loosely based on stories Gibbons heard while growing up. R--Recommended. (c) Copyright 1997, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 1997, Morrow, 112p, $15.00. Grades 4-6. Subjects:
- Mountain life--Georgia--Juvenile fiction.
Horror tales, American.
Children's stories, American.
Mountain life--Georgia--Fiction.
Horror stories.
Short stories.
Georgia--Juvenile fiction.
Georgia--Fiction.
| Language | Call Number | LCCN | Dewey Decimal | ISBN/ISSN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English (eng) | PZ7.G33913 Nl 1997 |
96037745 |
[Fic] |
0688145043 9780688145040 9780688145040 |