Title: Scary Book of Christmas Lore: 50 Terrifying Yuletide Tales from Around the World
Author: Tim Rayborn
Genre: Horror, Christmas, Nonfiction, Folklore, Mythology
Number of Pages: 144
Book Summary:
You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen…but do you recall the most petrifying Christmas figures of all? Not all children fear just a lump of coal in their stockings. Discover the terrifying Yuletide fables that have horrified kids for generations. He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness’ sake. This lighthearted song is a bit more ominous in the context of other Christmas traditions. From beasts that threaten to cook children into stew to sinister crones who snatch little ones from their beds, you won’t find any dancing sugar plums here. Outside of the heartwarming Christmas tales we all know and love, there are an abundance of frightening stories to chill all who hear them to the bone. Discover folklore from all corners of the world, These tales are sure to leave you wishing for the Grinch. Whether you are a fan of history and folklore, you love learning about different cultures, or you just want to give a holiday gift that will bring the joy of Christmas to that lucky someone (just kidding), The Scary Book of Christmas Lore is for you. ’Tis the season! Is it beginning look a lot like Christmas, yet?
My Thoughts:
I’m not going to lie, but this one caught my attention immediately when I was looking for some Christmas reads on Bookoutlet.ca. I can’t tell you how fascinated I am with the darker folklore surrounding Christmas or Yuletide for some. It’s mesmerizing and I think it intrigues a lot of people to know what folklore other countries believe. Honestly the most well known minion or companion (depends on how you look at it) of Santa’s is Krampus.
Come on, we’ve all heard of that one!
However, as intrigued as I was to read this book, I have to say that it had some interesting facts about terrifying traditions, holiday demons and so on. BUT I do have a few gripes about the book.
I found this book contained a lot of “may” or possibilities of unsure, which made me feel like it lacked research or just covering it’s bases in case the information was incorrect. Ultimately making me feel like I wasn’t learning some of the true history regarding the legend.
Another annoyance I found was the author’s attempt at humor or interjecting his own thoughts or opinions, sometimes even political ones. Which came off badly and made it seem that he just needed to add words to the page for length. I would have preferred a shorter chapter than the added “commentary”.
I did enjoy the book for what it was and learned about some interesting characters I’d never heard of before. Some were even quite terrifying, and I definitely have a few new favs – Perchta, Türst, Sträggele, Grýla, Winter wolves, Jólakötturinn – the Yule cat, just to name a few.
So if you do come across this little book, I strongly suggest you take it with a grain of salt, but definitely could have been written and put together a little bit better.
Hope you enjoyed and keep an eye out for the next mini review!
Ciao!
Mama on the Move 
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