Thursday, February 24, 2011

Passion and Poison: Tales of Shape-Shifters, Ghosts, and Spirited Women

I was browsing my local public library the other day looking for tween titles that i hadn't seen before, and Passion and Poison caught my eye with its' fetching cover and creepy title.  Kids are always asking us for "scary" stories and it is sometimes difficult to find something scary that is still age appropriate at the same time.  This collection of original takes on traditional folklore motifs is just the thing.

Author Janice M. Del Negro wrote these tales to be read aloud, but even someone reading to him/herself is bound to get the chills somewhere in this collection.  There are 8 tales in all ranging from the more traditional ghost story "Skulls and Bones, Ghosts, and Gold", to the truly gory "The Severed Hand", with my favorite being the latter.

All of the stories are hauntingly illustrated by Vince Natale to great effect. Readers who have been fans of Gidwitz's recent Tale Dark and Grimm are certain to enjoy these dark and creepy tales.

Readers beware...not for the faint of heart!

1 comment:

librarian pirate said...

I am deplorably behind in my google reader (as is obvious by the fact that I'm just now reading this) and I was just going to read and read and not stop to comment and here I am stopping to comment on one of the first entries I read! BUT BUT BUT I love this book so very much! Janice Del Negro was one of my professors in library school and she is one of my favorite people ever! She's a professional storyteller and if you ever get a chance to listen to her tell or even to just talk to her it's absolutely life changing.

Thank you so much for reminding me that I haven't read this book in far too long! I'm in the mood for something a little spine tingly tonight.