Readers will become addicted to these 36 short stories the way horrible Henry Higginbotham (in "The Cake Made Out of Teeth") is addicted to the confection made in his likeness, the way twins Edie and Tom are addicted to Luck ("The Tin Man's Price"), the way the whales are addicted to the man brought aboard the Misselkree ("Johnny Knockers").
With eight drawers--the themes tucked within the Cabinet of Curiosities--and four curators (authors), this collection of 36 goosepimply tales flows smoothly, one into the next, and will offer plenty for boys and girls to keep them up at night, around the campfire or in a tent by flashlight. Graveyards and whaling ships, parks and houses provide the settings. Like Stephen King, these four curators know that the most haunting themes hit closest to home. Alexander Jansson's half-tone drawings give just a hint of the quiet chill lurking within the tale. Larger themes emerge across the collection: pairs, mirror images, bullies and victims, negligent parents, suffocating parents.
The book is thick, but the tales fly by. It makes a great read-aloud in bits and snatches for a family road trip, or straight through on a rainy afternoon. Give this to fans of Adam Gidwitz's Tales Dark and Grimm and Candace Fleming's On the Day I Died. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness