Remember Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark? How about More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark or Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones? If your elementary school was anything like ours was, then these were the library books that always had the longest waiting list, especially in the weeks leading up to Halloween. A large part of what made this horror series so addictive were the truly terrifying illustrations that accompanied Alvin Schwartz’s collected tales — macabre images so nightmarish that they led to the controversial books being banned in some areas.
Evidently Harper Collins doesn’t understand the importance of Stephen Gammell’s artwork. The company, which is publishing new 30th anniversary editions of the series, has decided to replace his visuals with more kid-friendly versions by Brett Helquist, who is known for his work on the Series of Unfortunate Events books. Is he talented? Of course. But there’s nothing exciting about his illustrations. Head over to BuzzFeed to see an in-depth breakdown of the original art versus the new, and let us know in the comments if you think they’re ruining things for the next generation of readers.