So I have this tattered copy of “Scary Stories” by Alvin Schwartz. I’ve had the thing since I was very young, and to this day it grips me with fear.

I don’t recall ever actually reading it… (maybe one or two stories, but I thought they were boring- for very young children).

The reason the book is so memorable (and the reason I am writing a post about it) is decidedly due to a man from St. Paul, Minnesota. His name is Stephen Gammell… and he terrifies me. I think the first time I opened the book (probably in Kindergarten) I turned to the page below and curled up into a ball.

But despite not having the courage to open the book again, the small toddler version of me bought the damn book- so that I could take it home and be too scared to open it there.

Eventually, I did open the book again. And found the illustrations still terrified me. But I also found that the illustrations were magnificent. Here are a few more of Stephen Gammell’s drawings:

This next character appears in multiple pages throughout the book. I’m not sure if there is some particular significance to him, but here he is eating some bloody looking cereal:

I am very intrigued by the way strands of goop seem to stretch off of every mark. The drawings become very tangible- like I might get some on me if I brushed my hand over them…

Stephen Gammell has had illustrations in a number of other books. He won the Caldecott Medal for his work in “Song and Dance Man” by Karen Ackerman. I highly recommend checking out some of his other works (They aren’t all so gruesome).

Sweet dreams,
-Tom

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 6th, 2007 at 11:24 pm and is filed under Artists, Illustration, Images, Books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.