Title: Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep
Author: Jack Prelutsky
Artist: Arnold Lobel
Genre: Horror / Poetry / Halloween / Monsters
Year Published: 1976
Year Read: 2009
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Source: Library
Content Rating: Ages 7+ (Some Scary Imagery and Graphic Dialogue)
Nightmares” is a book of poems written by Jack Prelutsky along with illustrations by Arnold Lobel. This book contains poems about various monsters, wizards and ghosts doing horrible things to unsuspecting people. “Nightmares” might be too scary for smaller children, but older children will love the macabre content of this book.
Jack Prelutsky’s writing is dramatic and intense as he brings true horror to these poems. Each poem describes a monster doing horrible acts towards their victims and Jack Prelutsky brings great detail to how these victims are tortured, such as in “The Vampire” where Jack Prelutsky describes how the Vampire bites down on its victim and licks the blood off its lips. Arnold Lobel’s illustrations are the center of attention here as they are in black and white coloring, giving the story a gothic feel to it. The image that stood out the most was the image of the Dragon of Death having seven heads and vicious looking eyes in the poem “The Dragon of Death.” 
“Nightmares” is surely one of Jack Prelutsky’s most haunting books he ever created since it talks about how monsters torture their victims to death. I would recommend this book to children ages seven and up since there are too many advanced words that young children might not understand and because of the macabre content displayed vividly in this book.
Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog
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