Middle Grade Monday: Living Ghosts & Mischievous Monsters: Chilling American Indian Stories by Dan Sasuweh Jones

Image: Scholastic Inc.

Living Ghosts & Mischievous Monsters: Chilling American Indian Stories written and selected by Dan Sasuweh Jones, Ponca Nation and illustrated by Weshoyot Alvitre, Tongva. 166 p. Scholastic Press/ Scholastic Inc., September, 2021. 9781338681628. (Review of finished copy courtesy of publisher.)

Happy Monday! We return to school today after what I hope was a restful long weekend. Middle Grade Monday features Living Ghosts & Mischievous Monsters: Chilling American Indian Stories written and selected by Dan Sasuweh Jones, Ponca Nation and illustrated by Weshoyot Alvitre, Tongva. After graduating from college, Mr. Jones travelled the U.S. and Canada visiting tribal communities and listening to their stories, ghost stories in particular. He writes in his introduction that ghost stories were common no matter the region and that they fell into one of five categories-ghosts, spirits, witches, monsters and the supernatural. Mr. Jones is a filmmaker and bronze sculptor and storyteller himself. He compiled thirty-two of the stories he collected as a young adult in these five chapters. Each story contains an introduction describing the tribe, storyteller and context. Each story is illustrated by evocative pen and ink drawings, some creepy, some horrible.

If you love scary stories, you will love this collection.