Beware, indeed. The Ninja Weenies are a bunch of martial arts wannabes causing havoc at the narrator's school. Then his birthday party threatens to be ruined by the bullies until a real ninja comes to his rescue. That's just one of the more than two dozen short stories in David Lubar's latest collection. The stories are super short--most run three to four pages--and all feature outlandish or downright weird happenings. A snow globe that makes real snow, a pool that becomes the ocean, casting its young swimmer adrift, bedbugs that suck an unfortunate hotel guest dry. Boys are the protagonists in the majority of the tales, but one of my favorites features a girl. In "A Christmas Carol," Carol loves Christmas so much she wishes it will never end. When a genii dressed as Santa grants her wish, savvy readers suspect how it will end. The tale, however, turns our expectations upside down.
While not all the stories deliver, enough do to make this a worthwhile collection. Fans of
The Twilight Zone will find much to enjoy between its pages. Lubar wraps up his book by revealing how he got the idea for each story, a nice touch.
Beware the Ninja Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales
by David Lubar
Starscape/Tom Doherty, 192 pages
Published: June 2012
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