Horror Book of the Week: Hide and Don't Seek: And Other Very Scary Stories by Anica Mrose Rissi

 

This week’s Horror Book Recommendation is Hide and Don’t Seek: And Other Very Scary Stories written by Anica Mrose Rissi.

 Published in August 2021 by Quill Tree Books, this spooky anthology for kids is on the bestsellers list of Children’s Folk Tale & Myth Anthologies as well as Children’s Scary Stories. 

Although this novel is aimed at young readers, it doesn’t mean that the stories can’t be enjoyed by adult readers as well who may want to indulge in some mild horror. 

Customers who bought this book left positive reviews for the anthology. Many found the book to be a fun read and were left with chills at the end of each story. 

There were those who found the book to be slow and and that not all stories were scary. 

Quick Book Review of HIDE AND DON’T SEEK: AND OTHER VERY SCARY STORIES (based on sample)

If you visit Amazon, you will get to read at least two stories out of the twenty stories in this collection. 

The first story is Hide and Don’t Seek. The atmosphere of the book is immediately set with a strong start. There is something chilly about a simple game of Hide and Seek not going as planned. 

And that is exactly what happens when Nikki and Jeremiah play a game of Hide and Seek in the fields. Nikki waits for her brother to find her but since he’s taking a long time, she falls asleep. When she awakens, she is stunned to find not her brother but a young man approaching the spot where she is hiding. She sleeps after the threat is gone and awakens to hear the whistle her brother usually gives, only to find a stranger in the fields. It’s nighttime and Nikki is getting tired of waiting for her brother to find her. 

Eventually, when she spots a spirit, she leaves her hiding spot and heads home only to find ruins of her house. 

When she learns the truth, she is shocked. 

The second story is titled Beatrice and is about a girl called well, Beatrice who receives a very special Christmas gift. It is a doll who looks exactly like her. She talks like her too. Beatrice is thrilled until the doll insists on being addressed as Beatrice too. 

Beatrice can share anything except for her name. Things go wrong fast when the doll decides she wants more than just the name. 

The stories are short, get to the point and leave you feeling chilly. But it also leaves you feeling a bit unsatisfied. The stories seem incomplete because you never really get an explanation of what exactly is going on. In a way, it becomes a challenge for the kids to draw their own conclusions from each story, and perhaps this is what the author intended. 

HIDE AND DON’T SEEK: AND OTHER VERY SCARY STORIES Plot (Taken from Amazon)

A contemporary collection of original short stories by Anica Mrose Rissi that is sure to elicit chills, laughs, and screams, even from the most devoted fans of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark!

A game of hide-and-seek goes on far too long…

A look-alike doll makes itself right at home…

A school talent-show act leaves the audience aghast…

And a summer at camp takes a turn for the braaaains…

This collection of all-new spooky stories is sure to keep readers up past their bedtimes, looking over their shoulders to see what goes bump in the night.

So if you’re feeling brave, turn the page.

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