Those of us who love urban legends are generally well-versed on many of the oldest and most-often-retold ones. Some of them, like whether or not Mikey from Life cereal fame, died from eating Pop Rocks, are so familiar that they can seem almost laughably boring. But in Urban Legends - Strange Stories Behind Modern Myths author A.S. Mott has done something wonderful—he has found a way to make those old stories entertaining again.

In this fun read, A.S. Mott tells us many stories. And they aren’t simply the regurgitated “facts” regarding popular urban legends, either. No, he does something more-—he presents each urban legend to us first as a fictionalized short story, breathing new life into each by carrying us into the experience along with the people he writes about. And then, at the end of each of these short stories, he gives us the actual urban legend and where it originated from.

I like this book. I would not recommend it to someone who is looking for hard facts or serious journalism about urban legends, as this book is only journalistic on a very surface level. But it is a wonderful book for anyone you know who is interested in urban legends and who enjoys a fun, light read-—particularly if they are not already well-familiar with the majority of the stories told within its pages. I would recommend it particularly for young readers, ages 13 on up.

This book is a great introduction to these tried and true stories that stay with us through the years, told and retold as experiences that “truly happened” to the family, friends, and coworkers of someone we once knew.