History Literature / NightmaresPoemsToTroubleYourSleep

''Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep'' is a monster-themed poetry collection for children. Originally published in June of 1976, it was written by Jack Prelutsky and illustrated by Arnold Lobel.

* ForTheEvulz: "The Haunted House", "The Will o' the Wisp", "The Witch", "The Ogre", and "The Wizard" each describe a monster that does harm for no gain other than entertainment or compulsion.

* OurGhoulsAreDifferent: Ghouls are hominivores and the one in "The Ghoul" has a particular preference for the flesh of human children. He lurks around schools until recess or when school's out and grabs as many children as he can before heading to a quiet spot to mangle and rip their bodies apart for consumption. The moment there's nothing left to chew, he hurries to another school for his next meal.

%%* ForDoomTheBellTolls:

* {{Lunacy}}: When the moon is full, the werewolf comes out to hunt. In "The Werewolf", he prowls the street of a city in search of a meal, which he is likely to obtain.

%%* SnowMeansDeath:

* ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight: The bogeyman in "The Bogeyman" is a creature that lurks in the shadows of an unspecified sinister place. No one who has ever entered his domain has returned from it, having fallen victim to his "steely sharp claws", "slavering jaws", and his bone-crumpling "bogey embrace". But still people come and he waits patiently for his next victim.

%%* VileVulture:

%%* {{Bookends}}:

* {{Cyclops}}: The giant ogre in "The Ogre" only has one eye.

%%* HorrorHunger: the vampire and the ghoul

%%* {{Lunacy}}:
* MageSpecies: It is likely that the wizard and the witch in respectively "The Wizard" and "The Witch" are what they are by species rather than occupation. Mostly because every other creature in the poetry collection is what they are by either birth or death.
* MageTower: The wizard in "The Wizard" lives in a tower of cold and gray stone.
%%* MagicCauldron:

%%* OurDragonsAreDifferent:

%%* OurOgresAreDifferent:

* SequentialArt: The poems spread out over two or three pages, which are "The Haunted House", "The Vampire", "The Wizard", and the "The Dance of the Thirteen Skeletons", have as many illustrations. Just like the poems progress narratively, so do the illustrations.

* VampiresSleepInCoffins: The skeletons in "The Dance of the Thirteen Skeletons" sleep in their coffins during the day and wake up at night to dance.

* WouldHurtAChild: All poems are meant for children to read, so all threats and warnings in them are for children to mind. The poems and illustrations that explicitly feature children as the victims of the monsters are "Will o' the Wisp", "The Bogeyman", "The Ogre", and "The Ghoul".

Contained within the pages of ''Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep'' are twelve poems, which in order are "The Haunted House", "The Will o' the Wisp", "The Bogeyman", "The Vampire", "The Dragon of Death", "The Troll", "The Witch", The Ogre", "The Werewolf", "The Wizard", "The Ghoul", and "The Dance of the Thirteen Skeletons". The poems vary in rhyme scheme and length, with most poems fitting a single page. "The Haunted House", "The Vampire", and "The Wizard" are each two pages while "The Dance of the Thirteen Skeletons" takes up three pages. Each page of text is accompanied by a monochrome illustration on the neighboring page, so the longer poems also have more than one illustration.

%%* MagicWand:

%%* MysteriousStranger:

%%* OurTrollsAreDifferent: The troll in "The Troll"

* ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight: The bogeyman in "The Bogeyman" is a creature that lurks in the shadows of a sinister place. No one who has ever entered his domain has returned from it, having fallen victim to his "steely sharp claws", "slavering jaws", and his bone-crumpling "bogey embrace". But still people come and he waits patiently for his next victim.

%%* ForcedTransformation:

%%* HorrorHunger:

* MageSpecies: It is likely that the wizard and the witch in respectively "The Wizard" and "The witch" are what they are by species rather than occupation. Mostly because every other creature in the poetry collection is what they are by either birth or death.
%%* MultipleHeadCase:
%%* MultipleTailedBeast:

* OurGhoulsAreDifferent: Ghouls are hominivores and the one in "The Ghoul" has a particular preference for the flesh of human children. He lurks around schools until recess or when school's out and grabs as many children as he can before looking for a quiet spot to mangle and rip their bodies apart for consumption. The moment there's nothing left to chew, he hurries to another school for his next meal.

%%* ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight:

* WillOTheWisp: Wills o' the wisp are entrancing dancing flames that offer a drop of hope to anyone lost in the desolate forest during the night. But rather than a guide to safety, wills o' the wisp are lures into inescapable danger. It is therefore advised never to follow them.
%%* WouldHurtAChild: wisp ghoul ogre bogeyman

%%* BreathWeapon:
* Cyclops: The giant ogre in "The Ogre" only has one eye.

* DragonHoard: The ancient dragon in "The Dragon of Death" guards a treasure of infinite worth in a forest. It burns to death anyone who stumbles upon the treasure, caring not to determine whether the interloper is truly apotential thief or just lost.

%%* OurGhoulsAreDifferent: Ghouls are hominivores and the one in "The Ghoul" has a particular preference for the flesh of human children. He lurks around schools until recess or when school's out and grabs as many children as he can before looking for a quiet spot to mangle and rip their bodies apart for consumption. The moment there's nothing left to chew, he hurries to another school for his next meal.

%%* OurVampiresAreDifferent:
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: When the moon is full, werewolves come out in search of a victim to devour. The one in "The Werewolf" has made a city its hunting ground and stalks its streets with stealth and cunning.

* BewitchedAmphibians: During "The Wizard", the wizard forces a wandering bullfrog through a series of transformations such as a pair of mice and a single chalk before returning the critter to normal and either teleporting it away or erasing it from existence. After this display of magical might, the poem warns that if the reader encounters "a toad or a lizard," that might not actually be the entity's true form and rather a form resulting from the wizard's doings.

%%* Cyclops:
%%* TheDeadCanDance:

%%* FlyingBroomstick:

%%* ForTheEvulz:

%%* MageSpecies:

%%* OurTrollsAreDifferent:

%%* WouldHurtAChild: wisp ghoul ogre

In 1980, Prelutsky and Lobel got together again to produce a sequel to ''Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep'' titled ''The Headless Horseman Rides Tonight: More Poems to Trouble Your Sleep''. In 1988, Caedmon Audio combined the two collections into one audiobook adaptation on cassette titled ''Nightmares and the Headless Horseman Rides Tonight: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep''. The A-Side contains the ''Nightmares'' poems and the B-side the ''Headless Horseman'' poems. The narration is by Jack Prelutsky himself, the sound by Don Heckman, and Daniel Wolfert edited it to the final product.