Creepy Creatures

by Courtney Hilden
Spoiler Alert!: Some of the endings of the stories are revealed in this review.

Earlier, we here at Recommended reviewed Terror Trips, a collection of horror stories from Goosebumps told in a graphic narrative style. Creepy Creatures is the same basic format: three horror stories from R.L. Stine. Because this is Goosebumps, the stories are meant to still be appropriate for younger readers. "The Werewolf of Fever Swamp" is about a family that moves into a new neighborhood and finds there may be werewolves living in the forest. "The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight" is about two siblings whose trip to their grandparents farm is ruined by animated scarecrows. And "The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena" is about a scientist father and his children bringing home Bigfoot.
The artwork is all three stories is distracting. Both "The Werewolf of Fever Swamp" and "The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight" have art that is relatively realistic, particularly the latter. The art for "The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena" is much more cartoony, but the eyes are really distracting, with uncolored pupils.
The two superior sections, in terms of storytelling, are "The Werewolf of Fever Swamp" and "The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight." In the werewolf story, in the end, the young man and narrator turns into a werewolf, which, considering these stories are meant to be for children (just about no one ever dies), is surprising. "The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight" is actually interesting because it depicts one of the grandparents' employers, Stanley, who is depicted as having some kind of special need.
It is this character who is the most problematic. Stanley is the bad guy in the story, who has created zombie-like scarecrows based on things he read in a magic book. People with disabilities are often depicted as stupid, pathetic, evil or combinations thereof. In this story, Stanley is depicted as all of them. He is evil enough to use his scarecrows to threaten the grandparents and the siblings, but too stupid and pathetic to effectively control or destroy the scarecrows. No real motivation is given for his actions; apparently his "inabilities" do that for him. No critique of the family that employs him or society that marginalizes someone like him is given (which would have served for a more reasonable and sympathetic motivation.) Instead, he is just bad. Instead, he is just like his zombie-scarecrows; dangerous and needing to be controlled by the employers (easily read here as capitalists) and the abled.
Creepy Creatures is not as good as Terror Trips, both in terms of art and storylines. Creepy Creatures also has some problematic depictions of those with special needs, which discerning parents might want to shield their children from or at least discuss with them.

The Dark-Hunter Companion

by Clare MacGregor

Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunters books draw readers into a world of hunters whose duty it is to protect the human race from supernatural forces that would harm them both in the waking world and in their dreams. Each group of hunters has strict rules they must live by. These rules not only dictate their interactions with humans, but interactions with each other. Because there are so many factions in the world of the Dark-Hunters, readers might easily find it difficult to keep the relationships between the various Hunter factions, the Demons and Gods clear in their head. The Dark-Hunter Companion by Sherrrilyn Kenyon is a companion book for the Dark-Hunter, Dream-Hunter, and Were-Hunter series’ is written as an instruction book for a new Dark-Hunter. In the book each subdivision of Hunters has their own chapter. The first chapter is made up of the dos and don’ts of the Dark-Hunters’ world. Included in each chapter has a “directory” for the Hunters of that subgroup. The “directory” also notes which books in the series feature certain characters. In the Were-Hunters’ chapter includes descriptions of and menus from the Were-Hunters favorite hang outs. Some of the restaurants/clubs sound so amazing readers will wish they were real places. Each chapter explains the origin of each group of Hunters. If readers are familiar with mythology (particularly Greek) the easiest characters to remember will be the Gods and Goddesses. The Dark-Hunter Companion includes deleted scenes from some of the Dark-Hunter novels and an interview with Sherrilyn Kenyon.
The Dark Hunter Companion is a wonderful book to have on hand when reading the Dark- Hunter, Dream-Hunter, and Were-Hunter series to use as quick reference.