Invasion of the Road Weenies
and Other Warped and Creepy Tales

This file contains a synopsis of each story, followed, in many cases, by discussion questions, activities, or other information designed for classroom use. The stories are listed in the order they appear in the book.

"The Last Halloween"

A girl wonders whether she is too old to go out for Halloween. Her decision to go out one last time leads her to an act of bravery.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

This is one of my favorite stories to read to students, because Jennifer refuses to become a victim.

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A boy has three bad things happen to him one morning. Since bad things come in threes, he feels he is safe for the rest of the day.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

This story is a good way to launch a discussion of immigrant cultures. Our accents, and those of our parents and grandparents, are part of our diversity.

Ask the students what superstitions they've learned from relatives.

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"The Dead Won't Hurt You"

A boy who is afraid of the dead enters a cemetery on a dare. Once inside, he encounters a much more natural horror, but is rescued by the very thing he fears.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

This is a good story for discussing both fears and risky behavior.

Trivia note: the vampire movie mentioned in the beginning is Nosferatu.

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A boy and his little brother photocopy various body parts in their Dad's office.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

This one gets guaranteed laughs and gasps when used as a read-aloud.

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"Shaping the Fog"

Three children sneak out of their house to make objects from the fog.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

This is probably the most mystical story I've ever written. As a read-aloud, it generally produces gasps or stunned silence at the end. Note the frequent use of alliteration.

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"Willard's Oppositional Notebook"

A boy find a notebook with a special power: whatever he writes in it, the opposite happens. He figures out a way to use it to become immortal. Things don't go as planned.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

Ask the students what they would write in the notebook.

Ask them to think up other words that could be drastically changed by the addition, or subtraction, of a single letter.

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"A Tiny Little Piece"

A girl steals a small piece of bandage from a mummy. That night, the mummy shows up in her room and takes a single hair. Unfortunately for the girl, there are many mummies in her future.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

This story can lead to discussions about national treasures, and about public vs. private property.

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"The La Brea Toy Pits"

A family vacation goes in a terrible direction when a wrong turn takes them to the toy pits rather than the tar pits.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

Have the students create a list of other potentially disasterous tourist spots, such as the Vampire State Building and the Grind Canyon.

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"Mr. Lambini's Haunted House"

A girl who claims to have no fear enters a neighborhood haunted house.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

A nice way to start a discussion about fear.

Note the way the story opens with six lines of unattributed dialogue.

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After getting his mouth numbed, a boy is unable to control what he says.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

If you're feeling bold, you can ask the students to write a scene where a character can't control what he says. You might not want to let them bring that paper home.

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"A Little Night Fishing"

Two boys go night fishing. When one of them hooks a fish that he can't reel in, the line between hunter and prey gets blurred.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

The title is a reference to Mozart's A Little Night Music (Eine Kleine Nacht Musik) which is why I gave the character the name "Kleine." I'd originally tried to write an opening that had the same distinctive rhythm as the music, but it felt too wordy.

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"Precious Memories"

A boy discovers that when he erases a video tape, the event itself disappears from memory.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

How important is it to record events? What have you learned from looking at old videos? What would you like to erase?

You might need to explain to the students what a VCR is.

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A girl's little brother starts talking to her. Then he starts making demands.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

Note how the animals echo Chuck's phrase, "mutually agreeable deal."

This is a good story for discussing the benefits and difficulties of different birth-order positions.

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A boy discovers that when he walks far enough down the street with his eyes closed, the world will have changed when he opens his eyes.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

Here's a small detail to share with the students after they read the story. Notice that the sisters have their backs toward the narrator. This was done so he (and the reader) wouldn't see what had happened to his eyes until the very end.

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A girl discovers a series of advertising flyers that seem to have predictive powers. She hunts down the source and tries to create a flyer of her own.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

Ask the students to bring in newspapers, magazines, or junk mail, and think of other interpretations for the common promotional phrases they see.

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As he is walking home from school, a boy wonders why someone disappears every autumn.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

The story can introduce a discussion on safety.

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A goose starts laying golden eggs. A boy hoards them, and figures out the truth a little too late.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

Have the students take a familiar phrase and use it as the basis for a story.

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"Fresh from the Garden"

A girl plants a vegetable garden behind her new house, and then discovers something disturbing about the former owner.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

This is probably not the best story to read before the kids plant a garden at the school.

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"The Covered Bridge"

A girl has a fear of walking through covered bridges. When another girl teases her, she discovers there are far worse things to fear.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

This story is a nice way to introduce the topic of fears and phobias.

I came up with "marigots" because it sounded a bit like "maggots."

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A bee lands on a boy's hand. He is afraid to move. Another bee lands. Followed by lots more. The bees finally leave, but things get worse.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

"What would you do if a bee landed on your friend?"

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"Just Desserts"

A boy on a deep-sea fishing trip with his Uncle learns that "eat dessert first" is not always bad advice.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

"Should you eat the best part of your meal first, or save it for last?"

See whether the students notice the irony in Dylan being the last one to go.

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"The Whole Nine Yards"

Two boys see a pair of footprints in the middle of a newly poured sidewalk. They try to find out how it happened.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

This is a good story to show how an interest can become an obsession.

Before reading the story, see if any of the students know the origin of the title.

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"The Green Man"

When students start spreading rumors of a green man, one boy decides to track him down.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

This story is a nice way to start a discussion on rumors and urban myths. It also touches on the concept of facing your fears.

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Two boys discover that their wishes come true when they get dizzy. Unfortunetely, dizzy boys tend to make bad wishes.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

"What would you wish for?"

"What are some wishes that would turn out badly?"

Ask the class to think up some ways to get dizzy.

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A boy suspects there's a monster in the septic tank. He's right.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

This story touches on our fear of the alien and foreign.

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"Anything You Want"

A little boy find a genie who grants him three wishes. Unfortunately, the boy doesn't annunciate very well.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

Ask the class to come up with other wishes that could be misunderstood.

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When a girl steps out of the line on the way to the auditorium, she find she has also stepped out of existence.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

Are lines necessary in the halls? Are they necessary for all age groups?

Note that anything we do as a group, especially those things we're told to do, can be the launching point for a story

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"Wandering Stu"

Stuart is so selfish that he gets banished to a place where there are no other people. He is told he has to stay there until he does something nice for someone else. See the problem?

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

See if the students can think up other situation where the punishment makes the solution impossible.

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Two boys test out a chant that is supposed to summon a monster. It works.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

Ask the class to discuss why people believe in monsters. Is there a useful side to this belief?

The way the narrator explains the concept of 100 as "ten groups of ten" to his brother can be used to start a discussion of larger numbers.

The chant they use is inspired by the "Bloody Mary" chant of folklore.

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"Ten Pounds of Chocolate"

A woman gives out huge chocolate bars on Halloween. Two girls are surprised at their good fortune, until they discover the truth behind the generosity.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

Put items of various weights in separate bags. (Two, five, ten, end fifteen pounds would be a good variety.) Have the students life each bag, and then guess which one contains ten pounds.

Ask the students why, at the end of the story, do we see the panther's tail making question marks in the air. (Careful readers will notice that the cat did the same thing.)

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"The Boy Who Wouldn't Talk"

A boy never speaks in class. Other students start to wonder why. One of them follows him home, and learns the truth.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

"Should eveyrone behave the same way? How do we treat students who act differently?"

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"Invasion of the Road Weenies"

A boy starts to wonder why the joggers he sees in his town never look happy.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

This story touches on the idea that reality could be defined by our observations of the world. (Note how Hector has to see that his homework is in his back pack.) In one sense, this harkens back to old schools of philosophy such as idealism. In another, it can be tied to current ideas in quantum mechanics. Or it can just be used to make fun of joggers.

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"We Interrupt This Program"

A boy discovers a hidden button ont he back of the remote control, allowing him to insert himself into a program.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

"What TV program would you want to go into?"

"What program would you never want to go into?"

Discuss other common words on buttons or keys, such as "shift" or "off," that could have multiple meanings.

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"The Smell of Death"

As a boy's father uses more and more powerful pesticides on his lawn, the insects mutate into more and more powerful adversaries.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

The story offers an example of natural (or somewhat unnatural) selection. It is also a good way to examine the balance of artificial and natural approaches to ecological issues.

Note that the father uses Thomas Jefferson's famous phrase, "eternal vigilance."

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Two boys start out on a shortcut through a hospital, and end up getting locked in the morgue.

Discussion / Activities / Other useful information:

Older students might appreciate the subtle irony if you point out the line, "I think this will get us to the other side."

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