Eerie Tales from the School of Screams

by Graham Annable

Overview

From the director of the Oscar-nominated movie Boxtrolls comes a middle grade horror anthology that will leave you holding onto your blankets for dear life! Perfect for fans of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and Goosebumps!

School is tough.
School is scary.
School is EERIE.

No one knows this better than Davis and Emily. But they’re not scared of school because of tough tests or merciless vice-principals. No, they’re scared because their teacher wants her students to present the class with the spookiest, most chilling stories they can think of.

From the twisted mind of Graham Annable comes five horrifying stories that will scare your skeleton right out of your skin. Are you ready to stare down “The Face in the Forest”? Do you think you can handle the truth behind “The Village that Vanished?”

Lock the doors, turn on all the lights, and arm yourself with candy— you’ll need all the help you can get to face these nightmares.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250195043
Publisher:	First Second
Publication date:	07/18/2023
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	406,852
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 8.75(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Oscar-nominated director Graham Annable is a cartoonist and animator living just outside of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, with his wife and two boys. Mr. Annable's unique voice has been consistently recognized in the mediums of film, games, and graphic novels throughout his career, garnering numerous awards and nominations along the way. When he's not taking his pugs on a walk in the woods he can usually be found doodling ideas for his latest project in the studio.

Editorial Reviews

★ 05/08/2023

White-cued schoolteacher Ms. Nomed challenges her students to tell the eeriest tale they can imagine in this spine-chilling graphic novel collection by Annable (the Peter & Ernesto series), which teems with ghoulish charm and innovative flair. Bespectacled Alvin, who reads as Black, tells an 18th-century drama titled “The Village that Vanished,” in which tax collectors searching for a town called Wattersburg instead meet a lone elderly shepherd. When prompted for the town’s whereabouts, the shepherd informs the collectors that, following a deadly transgression, sea people dragged Wattersburg’s citizens into the ocean—all except the old man. Subsequent genre-spanning tales detail a space crew navigating a time loop’s fallout and a girl uncovering her father’s dismembered remains, with help from his talking head. And as they spin their sinister yarns, unusual quips from Ms. Nomed sow unease among the class. Saturated spot colors set each story apart from contemporary school scenes rendered in grayscale and muted green. Cartoonish characters, minimalist backdrops, and Annable’s gently absurd humor juxtapose the stories’ frightening undertones. Via simple yet effective paneling, Annable balances terrifying visuals and taut storytelling with finesse and expert timing to deliver a horror-filled collection that is sure to scare and delight. Ages 8–12. (July)

Publishers Weekly

"Via simple yet effective paneling, Annable balances terrifying visuals and taut storytelling with finesse and expert timing to deliver a horror-filled collection that is sure to scare and delight."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Horror buffs will revel in the intelligent and spooky tales as these students await whatever awfulness or tantalizing but narrow chance of escape will befall them."—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"These effectively unnerving tales will stick with horror fans long after the book’s end. Highly recommended for juvenile graphic novel collections." — School Library Journal

“Graham is a treasure—his humor and pacing are vivid and unique—a trueborn storyteller and a raconteur of great wit!” —Guillermo del Toro, Filmmaker

“There is something wrong with Graham Annable, in the best way possible. Hilarious and heartfelt without compromising on scares, this is a book you’ll want to read with all the lights on and a giant bowl of candy. I would’ve killed for horror comics like this as a kid . . . but then maybe I would never have slept again. So never mind.” —Vera Brosgol, Anya’s Ghost

"Has Graham Annable ever made a bad drawing? No. The answer is no. And he can write a twisted story— think you can handle hilarious/wicked twisted stories? Prepare to test your nerves to the outer limits!"— Jeff Smith, creator of Bone and Tuki

From the Publisher

10/01/2023

Gr 6 Up—Oscar-nominated Annable brings readers into an uneasy, adventurous world with his latest graphic novel. The book opens in the classroom of Ms. Nomed, who is encouraging her students to tell spooky stories at the front of the room. Students seem reticent as they introduce tales of dismembered bodies, spiteful fish-men, alien possession, and more. Dynamic paneling emphasizes frightened expressions, foreboding tableau, and "it's right behind you!" moments. Annable employs a muted palette primarily of brown and green hues with chalk-style linework reminiscent of ChalkZone and Captain Underpants—but these stories shift quickly from whimsical to sinister. The unassuming cartoon style couches frightening concepts in sweet art, and the final entry gives way to a delightfully upsetting twist with a grim, unresolved conclusion. Most illustrations aren't too explicit or violent (though one story has depictions of physical and verbal child abuse), but some scary-gross faces and dark themes mean younger readers may benefit from adult consultation first. VERDICT No blood, minimal gore, but these effectively unnerving tales will stick with horror fans long after the book's end. Highly recommended for juvenile graphic novel collections.—Ashleigh Williams

School Library Journal

2023-04-12
A gathering of genuinely chilling tales, related by children in a classroom and presented in graphic format.

Invited by their teacher Ms. Nomed (mark the name) to tell “the eeriest story you have,” five young volunteers, variously light or dark of skin, stand up in turn to petrify their classmates. Alvin, for instance, shares a historical tale of a village that vanishes after previously friendly green bipedal “fish people” discover a taste for human flesh. Emily tells of a spaceship’s crew that looks human…right up until the tentacles shoot out of their eyes and mouths. Those and other tales that feature ghosts and conversations with a decapitated stranger are related in even tones that work effectively with the sepia and other subdued color schemes in Annable’s cartoon panels to provide properly slow builds to horrifying climaxes. The most lurid twist comes at the end of the last and longest entry, “The Door to Demons,” which turns out to be not made up at all but a frame story that touches off a mad scramble to escape a teacher who has suddenly transformed into a toothy, terrifying monster with a spectacularly weird upside-down head. It will take hardy readers indeed to sit comfortably in their own classrooms by day—or for that matter, hope for peaceful dreams at night—after these screamers.

Thoroughly, deliciously creepy. (Graphic horror. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews