![]() In “Harold,” perhaps his most popular story, Schwartz recycled an Austrian-Swiss legend to tell the tale of a possessed scarecrow. By scouring university libraries, speaking to professors, and listening to ghost stories in cities, barn lofts and Boy Scout camps across the country, he spun some of the world’s spookiest lore. Schwartz published more than 50 books over three decades, many focused on folklore, and with Scary Stories he continued this tradition. He was 64 years old and lived in Princeton.” On Monday, March 16, 1992, The New York Times read, “Alvin Schwartz, a best-selling author of children’s books-many widely praised for their wit and folklore but some criticized as unduly scary for young readers-died on Saturday at Princeton Medical Center in Princeton, N.J. He used to joke, ‘When I die, I want my New York Times obituary to say I had some of the most banned books in America.’” “My dad was very proud of that,” says Betsy Johnson (Schwartz), the youngest of Schwartz’s four children. According to the American Library Association, Scary Stories were the most challenged books of the 1990s. Vanderburg continued her protest, even appearing on Good Morning America. “Devil,” “seance,” “witchcraft” and “occult” were heard at PTO meetings across the country. “Those who want to get rid of the books say, ‘They’re just too gruesome for young readers.’”īut “gruesome” wasn’t the only word used to describe Schwartz’s books. “Parents and teachers in a Seattle suburb will vote next week on a plan to ban three books from an elementary school library,” reported Connie Chung on the CBS Sunday Evening News. More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (1984) Sandy Vanderburg, president of the Parent Teacher Student Association, had some 70 parents and teachers sign a petition demanding the books’ removal. That November, Nancy Allen, a Kirkland mom, seized Scary Stories from the Muir Elementary library. Some parents were appalled, even comparing Schwartz to the cannibalistic serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Featuring nightmarish illustrations by Stephen Gammell, winner of the Caldecott Medal, Scary Stories tells tales like “Wonderful Sausage,” where a butcher kills his wife, grinds her into sausage, then sells her to his drooling patrons. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, a three-volume set of haunting folklore collected from around the world, all retold by the author, Alvin Schwartz, had kids crawling beneath their blankets, reading by the flickers of their flashlights. But at John Muir Elementary School in Kirkland, a Seattle suburb, one of the students’ cherished collections of spooky tales suddenly vanished. ![]() ![]() ![]() Damp and cool and dark, it was the perfect backdrop for telling scary stories. In November 1991, as Halloween jack-o-lanterns rotted atop curbside leaf piles, and the autumn days grew shorter, nearly 5.5 inches of rain fell upon northwest Washington. ![]()
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