Living Ghosts and Mischievous Monsters: Chilling American Indian Stories

Perfect for fans of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark! A shiver-inducing collection of short stories to read under the covers, from a breadth of American Indian nations.

Dark figures in the night. An owl's cry on the wind. Monsters watching from the edge of the wood.

Some of the creatures in these pages might only have a message for you, but some are the stuff of nightmares. These thirty-two short stories -- from tales passed down for generations to accounts that could have happened yesterday -- are collected from the thriving tradition of ghost stories in American Indian cultures across North America. Prepare for stories of witches and walking dolls, hungry skeletons, La Llorona and Deer Woman, and other supernatural beings ready to chill you to the bone.

Dan SaSuWeh Jones (Ponca Nation) tells of his own encounters and selects his favorite spooky, eerie, surprising, and spine-tingling stories, all paired with haunting art by Weshoyot Alvitre (Tongva).

So dim the lights (or maybe turn them all on) and pick up a story...if you dare.

Author: Dan Sasuweh Jones
Publisher: Scholastic
Published: 09/07/2021
Pages: 176
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.15lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.90w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9781338681628
Audience: Ages 9-12

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 5.5
Point Value: 6
Interest Level: Middle Grade
Quiz #/Name: 513578 / Living Ghosts & Mischievous Monsters: Chilling American Indian Stories


Review Citation(s):
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 10/01/2021
School Library Journal 10/08/2021 pg. 1
Booklist 12/01/2021 pg. 36

About the Author
Weshoyot Alvitre is a female author and illustrator from the Tongva tribe of Southern California. She currently resides with her husband and two children on Ventureno Chumash Territory in Ventura, California. Her work focuses on an Indigenous lens and voice on projects from children's books to adult market graphic novels. She has recently been published as an artist in Ghost River: The Fall and Rise of the Conestoga, written by Lee Francis 4 and edited by Will Fenton; At The Mountains Base written by Traci Sorell; and was Art Director on the video game "When Rivers Were Trails." She enjoys spinning yarn and collecting antiques.
Former Chairman of the Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma and member of the Producers Guild of America, Dan SaSuWeh Jones is a filmmaker who has produced work for Sesame Street, NBC, TBS, and other national and international networks. He worked as an honorary Imagineer and consultant for the Walt Disney Company's Disney America theme park and as a field producer for the television miniseries 500 Nations, produced by Kevin Costner. As a bronze sculptor, he was a finalist in the competition for the American Indian Veterans Memorial at the National Museum of the American Indian on the Washington D.C. Mall. He holds a seat in the House of Warriors, a traditional Ponca Warrior Society. He was storytelling author and consultant for National Geographic Encyclopedia of the American Indian, 2019.