HOME SCHOOL BOOK REVIEW
Book: Night Shivers
Author: Ed Pessalano
Cover Illustrator: Patricia Trudeau
Publisher: Moose Hide Books, 2010
ISBN-13: 978-1-894650-82-3
ISBN-10: 1-89456-082-4
Related website: www.nightshivers.net (author), www.moosehidebooks.com (publisher)
Language level: 2
(1=nothing objectionable; 2=common euphemisms and/or childish slang terms; 3=some cursing or profanity; 4=a lot of cursing or profanity; 5=obscenity and/or vulgarity)
Reading level: Ages 6 and up
Rating: 5 stars (EXCELLENT)
Reviewed by Wayne S. Walker
Disclosure: Any books donated for review purposes are in turn donated to a library. No other compensation has been received for the reviews posted on Home School Book Review.
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Pessalano, Ed. Night Shivers (published in 2010 by Moose Enterprise Book and Theatre Play Publishing, 684 Walls Side Rd., Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada P6A 5K6). Do you like to read spine-tingling, scary stories? Some people do, and some people don’t. If you do, you will probably enjoy Night Shivers. The book consists of thirteen short stories which fall into the general category of horror from different genres. Some of them involve ghosts and skeletons, but most of them are a more Edgar Allan Poe-Alfred Hitchcock type of spooky, eerie tales. Are you the kind of person who can read stories like this, immediately go to bed, and still sleep peacefully at night?
Author Ed Pessalano has always liked telling stories, especially scary ones. Even when just a young boy, he would terrify family and friends with his special brand of horror. A couple of the tales are especially gruesome. In one a body is found hanging with a slashed throat and in another an elderly man eats corpses. The publisher’s website lists the book as being for adults, but there is no sexuality or bad language. The phrase “good Lord” is used once as an interjection, and the euphemistic “geez” appears once. Children who are very sensitive and people with an extremely weak stomach would probably want to avoid this book, but children who are able to read, into the macabre, and not bothered by such things should enjoy the book. Horror is not my favorite genre, but even I found the stories interesting, and my fifteen-year-old son said that they are creepy great.