No wonder they chose this guy to illustrate Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Stephen Gammell, you are the best. This is probably one of THE most frightening covers I’ve seen in a long time and I only just now stumbled upon it. I am getting zero sleep tonight, I can already tell.
About Elizabeth BirdElizabeth Bird is currently New York Public Library's Youth Materials Collections Specialist. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of NYPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.
I LOVED the Stephen J. Gammel illustrations in the Scary Stories books. The interior title page art for MORE Scary Stories (I think) was my favorite, with that gooey, blurry, doughboy lookin’ thing. Shudder.
His vision of ghosts as hairy, organic, feeler extruding things still creeps me out. I’ve never understood why people hire him to do cheerful happy books.
I always want to reference him when an art director tells me to tone down the spookiness of an illustration.