All New Stories by the Master of Scary Tales (Stinetinglers #1)

In these 10 darkly humorous short stories, Stine (the Goosebumps series) delivers bite-size frights. "Welcome to the In-Between," a cautionary tale about middle schooler Gabe, who's always late, opens the collection on a terrifyingly realistic note. After finding, and subsequently breaking, a smartwatch, Gabe becomes stuck in time, living life as if it's moving forward, but the clocks never tick past 6:10 p.m. In "Our Little Monsters," teenage Becka's new gig babysitting preteen terrors results in punny, madcap shenanigans. Creepy-crawly "Bugs" follows Alvie's attempts to work through his fear of insects, with a disastrous outcome. Though the stories are seemingly unconnected, each is preceded by a note from Stine detailing its inspiration, including a childhood anecdote about sibling wrestling matches as well as a pensive observation regarding a snake shedding its skin. Stine's collection, full of disaffected or downright miserable narrators, and bullies who take the form of friends, parents, and siblings, is a harrowing look at myriad current real-life horrors plaguing tweens, and foregrounds the idea that, more often than not, one must be brave enough to save oneself. Most characters are coded as white. Ages 8-12. (Aug.)

Gr 3-6--Another collection of tales from the most trusted name in kids' horror. This collection of short stories by "Goosebumps" creator follows 10 ordinary-seeming preteens as their lives collide with the supernatural. Smartwatches that stop time, evil twins, and hallucinatory bugs are just some of the weird and creepy events these characters face. One notable tale is about a basketball player who becomes unexpectedly clumsy, only to find that his skin is slipping off like a snake's. Although Stine makes references to the modern with smartwatches, cell phones, and more, these entries have a nostalgic tone, as if they were set in the small-town or suburban past. These tweens travel freely around their neighborhoods without much parental supervision, benefitting the plot. Short introductions about the story's inspiration preface each chapter, which may inspire some future young authors. These notes also serve to tamp down the horror level as readers are reminded that these are inventions and not real events. Similarly to his previous series, Stine's latest collection is unsettling, and the vignettes' endings will stay with kids long after they're done, especially since the author does not shy away from an unhappy denouement. However, the horror elements still stay within the bounds of what is expected for this audience. VERDICT A must-have volume wherever Stine's other work has a following.--Jeri Murphy