Frighten It Forward

Two paperback books, such as this week's Objet d'eBay package of Judith Gorog's When Nobody's Home: 15 Babysitting Tales of Terror and More Night Frights and Judith Bauer Stamper's More Night Frights, don't necessarily tie father and daughter together. Yet, wise Southlake, Texas, father Robert Rausch found a way: he took out a newspaper ad.

Deciding to scare straight his wayward teenage daughter, who was out partying instead of home by curfew time, Rausch headlined his notice, "Want a FREE BABYSITTER for a night out?" The payoff for the right responder was 30 free hours of sitting, courtesy of a reluctant teen, now promising to follow the narrow and straight path.