Nightmare Soup

My copy of Nightmare Soup arrived today, a book created with the goal of giving kids and adults the type of frightening folktales and urban legends that creators Jake Tri and Andy Sciazko grew up reading. It was originally available only through the duo's Kickstarter campaign, but can now be purchased directly via the project's website.

I’ve only skimmed the stories so far, but even a cursory inspection reveals how much Tri and Sciazko paid loving homage to their primary source of inspiration, that being the Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark series of books.

The Scary Stories tales were written by Alvin Schwartz who researched folklore and local legends from around the world to use as the basis for the stories in his books. This helped create a sense of familiarity for readers who could point to similar stories they’d heard from family at home or friends at school that made Schwartz’s creations seem all the more real. What really set the series apart though, were the accompanying images by artist Stephen Gammell, whose wispy, expressive illustration style was often considered more frightening than the stories themselves. Those images seared themselves into young reader’s brains and were such an integral part of the series, that when the publisher reprinted the books for the thirtieth anniversary with updated illustrations from a different artist, people raced to snatch up the originals before they fell out of print.

I’m glad that Nightmare Soup is going back to the roots of what made the Schwartz and Gammell collaboration so special. If this initial effort proves popular, then maybe Tri and Sciazko can start their own tradition and terrorize the generation of young readers to come.

This first step certainly seems like a great start.