Book Review: Spooky Stories of the World

Shearer, Wendy, Retold by. Teo Georgiev, Illustrator. Spooky Stories of the World. Lonely Planet Kids. Lonely Planet Global Limited, Dublin, Ireland: 2023.

Spooky Stories of the World on Goodreads

I thank Lonely Planet and Publishers Weekly for this ebook. (The book will be published in autumn 2023.)

This book is beautifully illustrated in full color — including plenty of orange and purple, my favorite colors. A map in the front of the book is full color, with illustrations representing the different stories from around the world. The illustrations are throughout the book, and the text alternates between black ink on a white background and a black background with white lettering. It’s an illustrated book for children rather than what I would call a picture book.

Each region/continent has a brief one-page introduction before the tales from that region begin. These include: North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, Oceana. Many of the stories are ghost stories, but some are about cryptids and other monsters. The writing style is much like fairy tales.

I’m disappointed that the yeti is described as being from China and Nepal instead of where it’s really from: Tibet and Nepal. Stop humoring the illegitimate Chinese occupation of Tibet. That’s my only complaint about the book.

Spells and Enchantments is the first volume in my middle grade fantasy series Rowanwick Witches:

Rowanwick Witches, Lesson 1: Spells and Enchantments