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Title: These are not the books you grew up with...
Review: Many of us remember being on a wait list at school or at our community libraries to borrow these horrifying gems. Yes, the stories themselves were spooky. Seeing some of our local folklore in print just added to the eerieness. The most important contributor to the scare-factor was the incredibly grotesque pieces of art that accompanied each story. This reprint features a new, popular artist; however, the illustrations don't have that same terror-inducing quality as before.For me, I think the reason is that there was a lot of mystery in Gammell's work, while Helquist's just doesn't leave anything to the imagination. In Gammell's work the picture is set up so that it is happening TO YOU. In Helquist's work, the perspective is such that you can see it happening to the characters. Just doesn't do it for me. You can google the images or check blogs to see for yourself.
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