Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the ARC. This is a great book for kids and families. It's a fun collection of short spooky funny reads. Kind of reminds me of my childhood with Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Definitely recommend I enjoyed it.

Horror short stories are a pretty easy sell for middle grade readers. THe stories in this collection aren't especially creepy. They dance more on the line between funny and scary with a hint of morality tale. More like Black Mirror for kids.

Have you ever wanted to convince your parents that you aren’t scare of anything? That you know there is no such things as monsters or mad scientists or ? If so, this is the book to read to your parents. It will scare them but not you! There are illustrations that will show your parents how silly they are even if they are screaming and you’re laughing! The book is a collection of short stories about creepy and horrible funny experiences besides the unexpected.

I enjoyed reading the book even though I found myself laughing at some of the other stories while others were definitely creepy. It’s an excellent way to discover that there is humor in stories that are creepy to read. The illustrations are drawn perfectly for each story!

This was a real fun read that I will for sure share with my sixth to eighth grade students. Ginns does a fun job with this book of short stories that teach lessons on morality and doing the right thing.

The artist Espilla also does a great and creepy job with is illustrations that caught the personalities of the characters in each of the stories.

1-2-3 Scream! by R.U. Ginns has all the trappings of classic middle-grade horror, with a healthy dose of hilarity. Think Goosebumps... but with way more slimey bits. While it's more funny than scary, 1-2-3 Scream! still manages to have some genuinely creepy moments. Definitely one for a horror fan's shelf.

EEK! 1-2-3 SCREAM! By R. U. Ginns was perfect! We absolutely loved all the spooky stories and had such a fun time laughing along. The illustrations were adorably ghoulish! The perfect pre-Halloween read!

Just In Time For The Spooky Season, Kids!

Allow Me To Introduce You To…

1, 2, 3, SCREAM! – by R.U. Ginns & Illustrated by – Javier Espila

‘Get ready to scream with this collection of hillarifying—hilariously terrifying—tales, fully-illustrated and perfect for scary story lovers who are looking for a side of humor to go with their helpings of horror.’

The stories are all spooktacular; every single one is this Horror Fans Favorite:

First Up…

‘Instagrave’ –

Creeeeeppppyyy Good!

‘Here Lies
The Body Of
Isabella Jones
They Found All Her Skin
But None Of Here Bones’

‘Mean Machine’ –

‘Everybody at Simon D. Kehoe Elementary School was afraid of the Mean Machine … the worst of the worst ….’

That. Was. Awesome! Fair warning, though, Kids, there’s uh… *cringe-whispers, spideeeerrrrsss*.

Next up …

Now, you cannot go wrong with a story called ‘Unicorn Poop,’ can you??

I mean, a title like that does not sound scary or scream-worthy, does it?

Amiright?!?

Let us step carefully into this short story and find out, in the hope the Unicorn Poop smells like a cornucopia of cotton candy fear and multicolored nightmares…

Judge: Verdict?

Me: yep, creepy, good, and nightmarishly noteworthy.

Up Next …

‘The Boogerman’ – Eeeeeeekkk! Or, perhaps, Eeeeeeeeewwwww!

Hahahahaha, Love The Ending!

‘Duplicate Release Form’ – Whoa!

‘Dog Years’ –

Oh My!

‘Epizeuxis ’ –

Holy Schna-moley that was sure creepy and so gross—LOVE. IT!

‘The Deadly Birds Of North America’-

It looks like things are about to get FOWL up in here, Kids!

*winks*

Di…Did you see what I did there?

Because some birds are a type of Fowl…

*sigh*

Hey, you never know, there could be a killer chicken or, HEY, even better—A Murder Of Crow!

(Fun-Although-Slightly-Creepy-Fact-Kids, a group of crows is called a murder of crows)

Enough talking, time for me to dive bomb into this story…

I WILLLLL BEEEE RIIIIIGHT BAAAAACCCK!

Okay, I’m back. Not gonna lie, Kids; *gulp* there is a chicken and quite possibly one or more carnivorous winged creatures inside this story.

*Eeeek!*

More Favorites…

‘Construct-A-Bot’ –

Oh, No!

‘Aunt Hill’ –

Oh, My! That Was Creepy, Good!

‘Bobble’ –

That. Was. Awesome! Sports fans will appreciate this one.

‘The Final Page’ –

This One Is Really Cool!

Welp, Horror Peeps, Reading This Collection Of Creepy Goodness Was A Lot Of Fun; I Hope You Enjoy It As Much As I Did.

Thank you, NetGalley and Delacorte Publishing, for providing me with an eARC of 1-2-3 SCREAM! at the request of an honest review.

1, 2, 3, SCREAM! – by R.U. Ginns & Illustrated by – Javier Espila (The Illustrations Are *Chefs Kiss* Perfection!)

Ages: 8 – 12
Source: Delacorte Press (Random House Children’s Books)
Release Date: September 20, 2022

Side Note: All Horrible Mom Jokes In This Review Are My Own, Patent Pending

Totally goofy and hilarious while still having some genuine creepy scares. A perfect middle grade Halloween read!

1-2-3 Scream! has all the vibes of Goosebumps and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, with cute little cartoonish illustrations. The stories are so original and silly, such as the girl who downloads an app that tells her how she will die, bullies who get more when they bargained for when they chase a child down a haunted hallway in a school, and a prank-vid fanatic who subscribes to the wrong channel. It features creepy creatures such as the Boogerman (yeah, you read that right!), an evil bobblehead, and birds (just...birds). This was possibly one of the best "young readers scary stories" collections that I've discovered, it's been a long time since I enjoyed EVERY story from a collection like this. I believe some of the illustrations in the actual book may have special features as I couldn't quite read "The Final Page," so I am going to have to get the physical copy, which, after reading these, and feeling like a little kid again staying up super late to read another Goosebumps book, I planned on doing anyway. I will have to rush down to the bookstore when this releases, and just in case in my hurry I accidentally bump into anyone on the sidewalk, I've luckily got plenty of dog kibble hanging around.

Note: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not compensated in any other fashion for the review and the opinions reflected below are entirely my own. Special thanks to the publisher and author for providing the copy.

This was a cute collection of horror for children. I don't normally like short stories but I found these childrens ones though short they were interesting enough at the same time.

This book contains 12 stories of an oddly humorous and scary/horror-ish nature and is intended for a Middle Grade (and older) readership.

Monsters? Yep. Dark corridors and darker rooms? Check. Mysterious noises, electronic beeps and blurps, messages seemingly from beyond the grave? Uh-huh. Characters you suspect may be heading toward a swift and terrible doom? No. What fun would "swift" doom be? Agonizingly slow doom? Yes, indeed. All these and more.

The author of this book considers himself quite the funnyman. So just consider the source when you are wondering whether a pack of werewolves will drop into a story out of nowhere. Or a coffin of vampires; a coffin, a coffer?

The "charming" illustrations are vital to the stories.

Seriously, be sure to read the signs, warnings, etc., in the illustrations. They are usually important--before--something jumps out at you.

4/5 Stars

Thanks to Random House Children's, Delacorte Press, and NetGalley for the preview of this e-copy proof; the review is voluntary.

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This was such a fun book to read. 1-2-3 Scream! is a collection of spooky short stories. The illustrations were amazing.

This book reminded me of Goosebumps, but it was also not as scary as Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series. Some of the stories were silly and there were a few that some kids might find scary so beware of that. One of the scarier stories was Instagrave. This story is about an app that predicts deaths. The ending of the story, Mean Machine, was also a story that might scare younger kids.

Overall, I recommend this book and enjoyed every story.

1-2-3 Scream picks up where "Goosebumps" and "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" left off in creating scary content for younger readers. I will caution parents, teachers, and librarians that some of the stories in this book may be a little too scary for more sensitive children. One of those scarier stories is the first in the book - Instagrave - because although the app predicting deaths isn't real the way in which our main character meets her end is very realistic. The stories are all very clever in their own way and the illustrations add to the creepiness of the events in those stories. I tried to decide what my favorite story was but found I really enjoyed all of them.

This book was so much fun! It reminded me a bit of the humor of Roald Dahl who I just love. The stories are short but full of horror and grisly ends. It is a little bit lighter than the stories in Scary Stories to tell in the dark. Anyone who is a fan of Dav Pikey and other illustrated novels will enjoy this title. I also think it would make a really fun read aloud. Such a fun one!