This is something I noticed (and you probably did too) in the older version of "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark", as compared to the newer illustrations. In the new version with the newer illustrations, all the characters are looking at other characters or inspecting some object or just looking towards the side, in a 'profile' pose. They are confined to their spaces within the book. In the old version, the illustrated characters sometimes look towards other characters, but many times they will also look directly out at YOU, the reader, breaking the '4th wall'. They actually engage the reader, visually. They give the impression that these stories are not at all confined to the book, but are reaching out into the reader's world. This was something that I didn't consciously realize until my adult years, but it made the drawings even creepier once I did.



Go ahead. Try it. Flip through that old book again. I know you still have it. Count how many faces and sets of eyes (or eye sockets) are gazing out at you. Happy Halloween.