urban legends (a.k.a. cautionary tales)
Growing up I loved to tell and be told scary, creepy urban legends. You know the ones that would keep you up all night. My favorite has to be the boyfriend’s death, where a couple who intend to do lots of kissing (and other stuff) run out of gas, boyfriend leaves to get gas and never returns alive. Other classics I remember are the choking Doberman and thump, thump drag (these are why I don’t like to stay home alone). *shuddering* scary stuff when you are 10 or 30ish.
How is this book related? Well…
Simon & Schuster (Simon Pulse) has recently released Jay’s Journal in trade paperback. As you may know this is a companion novel of sorts to Go Ask Alice, both which are written by anonymous authors and edited by Beatrice Sparks.
I’ve never read Jay’s Journal, but I did read Go Ask Alice several years ago. I found it to be gripping, intense and utterly sad. Mounting evidence suggests that Beatrice Sparks partially or (most likely) wholly wrote these books, and that she intended them as cautionary tales.
I’m okay with that.
The purpose of cautionary tales (a.k.a. urban legends) is to warn the readers of taboo situations and circumstances so they learn from them and don’t make the same mistakes. What better way to engage readers of the demise of teen substance abuse, sex, gangs, suicide etc. then to present the books as “real diaries.”
So, the point of this post is to say that urban legends scared the pants off me when I was a kid (okay they still do) and that Jay’s Journal and Go Ask Alice, which have nothing to do with ghosts or mad serial killers, are equally scary even if they aren’t necessarily true.
What’s your favorite urban legend/cautionary tale?
See you in the STACKS (with the covers pulled over my head),
Stacy
I never liked listening to “urban legends” – too creepy! I just wet myself a little reading thump thump drag…
super scary!! Does Cujo count!!??!!