Title: Beanstalker and Other Hilarious Scarytales

Author: Kiersten White

Publisher: Scholastic 2017

Genre: MG Horror

Pages: 224

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fall TBR

Once upon a time, a girl skipped into the forest and became a zombie.Wait, no, that's not how this story is supposed to go. Let's try again.Once upon a time, a boy did a horrible job as a sheep-sitter and burned his tongue on stolen pie.No, children in these stories are always good and virtuous. From the top.Once upon a time, a king and queen tried to find a princess for their son to marry, and he wound up fleeing from a group of very hairy vampires.Hmmm...What about, once upon a time, a bunch of fairy tales got twisted around to be completely hilarious, a tiny bit icky, and delightfully spooky scarytales... in other words, exactly what fairy tales were meant to be. Grab some flaming torches, maybe don't accept that bowl of pease porridge, and get ready for a wickedly fun ride with acclaimed author Kiersten White and fairy tales like you've never heard them before.

I grabbed this one for me to read during spooky book month, but ended up reading it to the kids for our night time read. It was the perfect choice for a bit of spookiness without proper horror. Instead we get some fractured fairy tales featuring some classic horror tropes and monsters. All with White’s unique brand of humor throughout. I absolutely adored the idea of the awareness of the narrator for both the reader and the characters in the stories. The little asides were just perfect. The stories themselves are fun twists on the classic stories. My favorite was definitely Red Hiding Hood as a zombie horde leader. This was the perfect read for this month and such a delightful library find.

Next up on the TBR pile: