In 1981 when Author Alvin Schwartz collected various folklore and urban legends to write the first of three children’s horror tales, I’m sure he knew he had something good on his hands…but when illustrator Stephen Gammell was brought aboard to provide the wicked illustrations for the series they surely must have known they were delivering pure and delicious nightmare juice!
Although I doubt they knew their collaboration would end up being one of the books that was on the American Library Association’s list of top 100 challenged for over two decades!
The other day, my fellow Retroist writer Daniel XIII sent me a link to artist Michael Perry’s beautiful sculpture, an ode to illustrator Stephen Gammell’s cover art to the first book, which Perry used in his short film Strange and Scary Things: A Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark Tribute. Michael was kind enough to post the amazing photos of his work over on his Facebook Page. That certainly a piece of art that would look quite beautiful sitting on the mantle in my living room!
Images courtesy of Michael Perry.
VicSage
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