This book is about a boy who is afraid on a stormy night, so his Grandpa proceeds to tell three stories. The stories that Grandpa tells are scarier than the thunderstorm. It is whimsical and spooky. The illustrations are done in black, white and light blue. This book scared me as a child. ( )

A young boy sits on his grandpa's knee during a terrible thunderstorm, listening to his grandfather's tales of his ghastly adventures when he too was a boy. In The Bag of Old Bones, a young Grandpa finds himself in a deserted shack in the middle of the woods one stormy night, and ends up opening the dusty sack in the corner. Finding a disassembled talking skeleton, he complies with its request to reassemble the bones, only to flee when it threatens to eat him. In The Cave of the Warty Witch, Grandpa takes refuge in the cave of an evil witch, while fleeing from the skeleton. Transformed into a spider, he must weave a web for his magical captor, but keeps his wits about him and steals the witch's wish-giving bone in order to restore his own human form. No sooner escaped from the witch, he finds himself captured by the disembodied hand in The House of the Ghastly Ghost, and is eventually swallowed by a werewolf. Thankfully, he still has the wishing-bone, and manages to free himself...

Originally published in 1978, Grandpa's Ghost Stories is a book that would have been around during my own childhood. Despite that fact, I never happened upon it as a girl, nor was I familiar with author/illustrator James Flora. That's a shame, as I suspect this would have been a favorite, right up there with Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark! The narrative here is involving, each episode building to a fever pitch of excitement as the hero escapes, and then catapults headlong into the next dangerous situation. It is a well-written book, full of spooky thrills and horrifying monsters, but also full of sly humor. The scene in which young Grandpa is forced to watch ghost TV (Channel 4½!), was hilarious! The accompanying artwork is deliciously creepy, building the sense of menace and horror, but also giving frequent nods to the somewhat surreal sense of humor. I enjoyed this one immensely, and can see it making a wonderful read for young children who enjoy truly scary stories. For myself, I am glad to have discovered Flora's work, and intend to seek out more of it. ( )

A beloved but spooky book from childhood. On a stormy night, a grandpa related a series of scary adventures to his grandson. The adventures includes putting together a bag of bones that comes to life as a giant skeleton, running into the cave of the warty witch and the children she's turned into creepy spiders, stealing her magic wishbone, being saved by ghost, eaten by a werewolf, and magically surviving the ordeal. James Flora's illustration are full of spooky details. ( )