The Toyman
The Toyman, Mum explains, is a creature who "looks after all the toys in the world and gathers up all the ghosts of broken toys. He doesn't like children who don't look after their toys." And the trouble is, Philip, Michael and Sarah aren't very good at looking after their toys.
That night, they all take longer to go to sleep, wondering if the Toyman could be concealed somewhere just out of sight. And when they are asleep, long after midnight, the door of the wardrobe slowly swings open...
Nearly Nine
A boy settles down on the eve of his ninth birthday. He can't sleep because his father has just read him a story about a scary monster that looks after toys and comes out of a wardrobe at night. He thinks no monster can be in his wardrobe, because it is full of clothes, and toys, and there simply isn't room.
But monsters, of course, aren't always where you expect them to be...
Christmas Wishes
A family are sending their Christmas wishes to Santa by sending notes up the chimney. The young girl of the family feels that something is wrong but because she doesn't quite know what, she keeps quiet.
She, and her brothers, and her Dad, send their notes up the chimney.
How were any of them supposed to know what was about to happen, and how lucky it was that they were a pencil short so that Mum hadn't written her note yet?
The Grumpy Browns
Mr and Mrs Brown are known as the Grumpy Browns because they hate children, presents, Christmas and of course Halloween. One Halloween they decide to play a rather unpleasant trick on prospective trick-or-treaters. They make elaborate plans and test them out in advance. Everything seems to be working perfectly but....
... when Halloween comes around, something happens which was not in their plan at all.
Wheelybins
A burglar is found unconscious in a wheelybin. Two comic policeman discuss how he could possibly have got there. When they leave, a young girl called called Jacqueline is left giggling at them from upstairs, because she knows how the burglar got there...
Years ago, when I read the As They Grow Older stories out at many schools around South Ayrshire, I was given a class to read to, and of course there was always a story for the age of the children in that class were. But on a handful of occasions I was asked to read out to the whole school; whenever that happened, Wheelybins was the story I chose. It always seemed to go down well.
Halloween Stories
A family gather round a fire one Halloween, and tell each other scary stories. But when they finish, a disembodied voice voice speaks to them from out of a corner of the room, saying that it didn't think much of the stories. Terrified, they all dash out into the hall, but nothing else happens, and gradually they forget about it.
Next Halloween they decide not to tell stories, recalling what had happened the previous year. But then something unexpected happens which made them change their minds...
As I remark in As They Grow Older, for a long time this was my favourite of the ATGO stories. Eventually another one supplanted it in the number 1 spot… but I shan’t be telling you here which one it was!
Trouble with Gus
Gus is the name both of the family's dog and the number-plate of their new estate car. But Gus refuses to go in the back, and the car itself is quite odd, because it is very cold and paw-prints mysteriously appear in the back.
Eventually dad decides to trace the original owner of the car to see if he can figure out the cause of the problem. After that he dreams a most peculiar dream, and in the morning he finds that he knows exactly what to do...
The House at the End of Witch Street
A headteacher warns pupils that animals are going missing, and no-one should go out at night. Jonathon Jones can see the house at the end of Witch Street from his bedroom window, and one night he thinks that he sees something strange happening over there. Something which might explain the mystery of the disappearing animals. Of course boys will be boys, and he decides that he will have to go to investigate.
What happens next is the stuff of nightmares, starting with a weird conversation and ending with Jonathon losing his jumper in terrifying circumstances. Did he solve the mystery of the missing animals? He thinks so, but it is not a story he can share with anybody else.
Sunset
Jenny and Bill regularly visit their uncle and aunt whose cottage overlooks the beach and the sea. They see many beautiful sunsets, which Jenny tries to paint, and often a woman walking past, with a little dog. They call her "the woman who is not really there" because for some reason their uncle and aunt cannot see her (or the dog).
Who is the women? Jenny and Bill try to find out, with frightening consequences. And when they finally discover the identity of the spooky figure, the answer turns out to be stranger than anything they had ever imagined.