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Josiah

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Josiah is Currently Reading

Josiah is currently reading

Let's Get Invisible! (Goosebumps, #6)

by R.L. Stine (Goodreads Author)

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(page 67 of 139)
— 3 hours, 8 min ago

10 hours, 22 min ago

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The Headless Horseman Rides Tonight: More Poems to Trouble Your Sleep

by Jack Prelutsky

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Reading for the 3rd time

read in October 2024

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Josiah said: " I never read a children's book like Jack Prelutsky and Arnold Lobel's Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep from 1976, and that wouldn't be their final horror collaboration. 1980 gave us The Headless Horseman Rides Tonight: More Poems to Trouble Y I never read a children's book like Jack Prelutsky and Arnold Lobel's Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep from 1976, and that wouldn't be their final horror collaboration. 1980 gave us The Headless Horseman Rides Tonight: More Poems to Trouble Your Sleep, a collection as delightfully dark and wise as the first. Prelutsky's silky language and Lobel's haunting images meld into something neither could have produced alone, perhaps the perfect junior horror book.

Our first poem is "The Mummy", a look inside a shadowy Ancient Egyptian tomb as the brutal mummy comes alive to amble the desert for innocents to kill. When monsters animate, real or metaphorical, it can seem there's no escape. How terrifying to be in that desert with the mummy. "The Spectre on the Moor" features a shapeless phantasm that tempts the vulnerable to follow its luminous form. Dangerous things can appear so beautiful you want to reach out and touch, but following this spectre leads to eternal captivity. Next is "The Towering Giant", a mountain of a monster who crushes victims to dust under his stone feet and fists. When a mountain of suffering chooses you to fall upon, your destruction feels inevitable. We proceed to "The Zombie", a voodoo apparition that invades your most personal space with horror and tragedy. Woe to he who faces the zombie without it being only a nightmare.

In "The Kraken", there are those who don't believe in the mythological sea monster waiting to be awakened and terrorize humans. When the kraken hits your boat, the menace will come out of nowhere. Best to avoid such a monster, if possible. "The Darkling Elves" introduces sharp-toothed beasts whose appetite extends beyond food. You'll never know they're watching you until they pounce and gnaw the meat from your bones, caring not for your torment as they make their meal. Be careful how you behave...the elves are always ready for a victim. An evil woman plots harm in "The Sorceress", destroying lives through black magic. She can torture you without setting foot in the room. "The Invisible Beast" is a predator you know is stalking you, though you cannot see it. You can only imagine its horrific features as it closes in, a foe you fear but have no way to stop.

Far East mountains host the legendary yeti in "The Abominable Snowman". You may be skeptical he exists until he nabs you and ends your life in an instant, a sobering reminder what terrors lie beyond our perception. "The Banshee" speaks of a creature who portends misery and horror, and could show up on your doorstep at any time. The banshee halts all joy and progress, leaving you only moment to moment survival. "The Poltergeist" resonates with all who are prone to crippling anxiety, fears that refuse to depart even though there seems to be no justifying them. A poltergeist is no less real for its lack of flesh and blood, a fear that chews ravenously at your stomach. Our finale, "The Headless Horseman", traces the dark phantom's midnight ride to cull victims with his scythe. Snug in bed we never know when the horseman will visit agony on us. He is no respecter of persons.

You won't find more captivating Arnold Lobel illustrations than in these pages, and Jack Prelutsky's poetry pushes the macabre line in the best ways. The scare factor is potent, but the poems also hold coded warnings about life's real horrors. "The Spectre on the Moor", "The Zombie", "The Darkling Elves", "The Invisible Beast", and "The Poltergeist" speak to me loudest. This book of horror poetry is an extraordinary work of art, top to bottom. ...more "

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(page 6 of 38)
"I'll fit in a third and final read of this over the next few days before we return it to the library, even though my review is complete. It's a terrific purveyor of Halloween atmosphere. I adore Arnold Lobel and Jack Prelutsky, as a creative team and as individual literary talents." — 5 hours, 16 min ago

5 hours, 21 min ago · see review

Josiah is currently reading

The Golden Stick

by Gary Paulsen

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(page 8 of 95)
— Dec 31, 2023 02:51PM

Dec 31, 2023 02:49PM

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Josiah’s Quotes

“Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.”
― Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

tags: biography, opening-lines

478 likes

“Stupid dreams. Even the good ones are bad, because they remind you how poorly reality measures up.”
― Neal Shusterman, Unwind

982 likes

“Perhaps it's impossible to wear an identity without becoming what you pretend to be.”
― Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game

tags: identity, pretend

4071 likes

“The trouble with morning is that it comes well before noon.”
― Libba Bray, The Sweet Far Thing

209 likes

“People have a habit of inventing fictions they will believe wholeheartedly in order to ignore the truth they cannot accept.”
― Libba Bray, The Sweet Far Thing

1132 likes

More of Josiah’s quotes…