Frightlopedia: An Encyclopedia of Everything Scary, Creepy, and Spine-Chilling, From Arachnids to Zombies by Julie Winterbottom. Illustrated by Stefano Tambellini.
Published by Workman Publishing in 2016
Age level: 8-12 years; Grade level: 3-7 Lexile Level: 1060.
Summary: Frightlopedia is a young person's encyclopedia on everything scary. The author has chapters on ghosts, haunted houses, poisonous trees, and more. Each chapter has illustrations or pictures, and facts about each subject. Some chapters have crafts or are even dedicated to telling an urban legend type of story. The author also offers harmless pranks or "horrifying how-to's"in some chapters, such as how to haunt your own house.
My Thoughts: This was a very fun, and funny book. There is a lot of information packed into this slim volume, and there is probably a lot more horror stories and folklore for the author to publish another volume. The language used and the goofy illustrations take the chill factor down for young readers, but there isn't anything truly scary that will disturb readers. The author has placed a "fright meter" in the beginning of each chapter, with a finger pointing to whether the subject matter is highly frightening, or only moderately so. The author does a well balanced job with writing about supernatural topics such as the Ouija board, seances and ghosts, with "real" interests such as spiders, snakes, and even Transylvania. I loved the light-hearted tone, and the facts and experiments that are thrown throughout the book.
Of note: Julie Winterbottom also has a book called Pranklopedia, for those who enjoyed the harmless pranks in this book, or just enjoy pranks in general. For readers who especially liked the urban legends in this book, they might want to check out the classic book Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz or The Thing at the Foot of the Bed and Other Scary Tales by Maria Leach and Kurt Werth.
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