HOW TO SCARE A GHOST by Jean Reagan & Lee Wildish

Just in time for Halloween! This fun way to learn about Halloween contains lots of gentle humor!

Summary from the publisher: 

Who says ghosts get to have all the fun on Halloween? In this humorous new addition to Jean Reagan and Lee Wildish’s bestselling How to… books, the kids are in charge! But in order to scare a ghost, you might have to find one first. Guided by a tongue-in-cheek instructional style, two children show young readers how to set the stage for a spooktacular Halloween by carving pumpkins, playing games, and even reading scary stories. Has a ghost showed up? Great! Now the fun–er, the scaring–can really begin. Filled with charming role-reversal humor, creative ideas, and lots of holiday spirit, How to Scare a Ghost is sure to delight kids, parents, and things that go bump in the night.

How to Scare a Ghost was written by Jean Reagan and illustrated by Lee Wildish. It was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2018.

Opening:     

Do you want to scare a ghost? The easiest, spookiest time to try is…Halloween!

My Thoughts as a Writer:

I loved all the fun lists in this book! It’s a great example for a writer to check out for a how-to mentor text. I enjoyed the snippets of humor. Who knew ghosts love glitter? The illustrations show children of diverse backgrounds participating in fun Halloween and fall activities, giving child readers lots to explore.

My Thoughts as an Educator:

A fun, not-scary book to read as Halloween approaches. I love books that showcase list-making, though in this case the list items are scattered throughout with the illustrations.

Ages: 4 - 7

Grades: K – 2

Themes: Halloween, ghosts, how-to book

Activities:

Share: Draw a picture or tell about what your family does on Halloween. If you celebrate, what are your Halloween traditions? If you don’t celebrate, what do you do instead?

Design & Build: Could you make a trap for catching a ghost? What materials would you use?

Write: Make a list of things to do when you are feeling scared.

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: THE ELEVATOR GHOST

The title of this book caught my attention! I haven’t read any ghost stories for a while and this was fun, because it was really several ghost stories inside a larger one. 

Description from Amazon:

When Carolina Giddle moves into the Blatchford Arms, no one knows what to make of her sequin-sprinkled sneakers and her trinket-crusted car. But the parents are happy there’s a new babysitter around, and Carolina seems to have an uncanny ability to calm the most rambunctious child with her ghostly stories.

Armed with unusual snacks (bone-shaped peppermints, granghoula bars and Rumpelstiltskin sandwiches), candles to set the mood, and her trusty sidekick ― a tarantula named Chiquita, Carolina entertains the children with some good old-fashioned storytelling and, at the end, a great Halloween party.

Governor General’s Award winner Glen Huser brings his quirky sense of humor and horror to some time-honored motifs. The artistic Lubinitsky girls find out that artists must be wary of the power of their own creations. Holy terror Angelo Bellini discovers that no one can throw a tantrum like a double-crossed pirate. The Hooper kids, including UFO junkie Benjamin, learn about some eerie goings-on in the New Mexico desert. Timid Hubert and Hetty Croop are practically afraid of their own shadows, until they hear the story of a boy who finds the perfect weapon for overcoming his fear of the dark. And Dwight and Dwayne Fergus, two would-be Freddy Kruegers, finally meet their match in Carolina, and her story of the footless skeleton.

As for Carolina Giddle herself, it turns out that she has a timeworn connection to the Blatchford Arms, and to the ghost who still haunts the building ― especially its old-fashioned elevator.

The Elevator Ghost was written by Glen Huser and published by Groundwood Books in 2014.

My Take:

This book is amusing and full of mildly spooky stories that are linked together by an interesting character, Carolina Giddle. She comes to live in the apartment building and ends up babysitting different children that live in the building – keeping them entertained with ghost stories. At the same time, Carolina is also visiting her ghost friends. 

As a writer, I really enjoyed language and phrasing in the story. It was very interesting the way the author was able to keep a lighter tone and yet still create the suspense needed for a good ghost story.

Opening Line:

“Blatchford was scary any night of the year, not just on Halloween.”

Quotes:

“At an hour past midnight, all of the excitement over Halloween had faded away. There was just the smallest taste of it left, like the sweetness from a caramel.”

“She pulled out tea candles, can labeled Ghost Host: The Drink That Soothes, and a plastic container filled with dessert squares."

“My stories are often a bit raveled,” Carolina Giddle said. “I just tuck the loose threads back in best I can to make a tidy edge.”

Other Info:

Glen Huser has worked as a teacher-librarian, children’s book reviewer, and instructor in Elementary Education. He has written several YA novels, all of which have won prizes or been shortlisted for awards. Currently, he lives in Vancouver.

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: The Swallow

With Halloween just around the corner, why not read a ghost story? I enjoyed this surprising and spooky story about two neighbours. I borrowed the e-book from my local library.

From Amazon:

In 1960s Toronto, two girls retreat to their attics to escape the loneliness and isolation of their lives. Polly lives in a house bursting at the seams with people, while Rose is often left alone by her busy parents. Polly is a down-to-earth dreamer with a wild imagination and an obsession with ghosts; Rose is a quiet, ethereal waif with a sharp tongue.

Despite their differences, both girls spend their days feeling invisible and seek solace in books and the cozy confines of their respective attics. But soon they discover they aren't alone--they're actually neighbors, sharing a wall.

They develop an unlikely friendship, and Polly is ecstatic to learn that Rose can actually see and talk to ghosts. Maybe she will finally see one too! But is there more to Rose than it seems? Why does no one ever talk to her? And why does she look so... ghostly? When the girls find a tombstone with Rose's name on it in the cemetery and encounter an angry spirit in her house who seems intent on hurting Polly, they have to unravel the mystery of Rose and her strange family... before it's too late.

The Swallow by Charis Cotter, Tundra Books, 2014

My Take:

From the beginning, I was intrigued by the idea that one of the girls was able to see ghosts. The mystery of the angry ghost and what exactly the connections were between the ghosts and the girls kept me reading!

This story was told from two different points of view, which is always a challenge for a writer. To learn from this book, I’d look more closely to see how the writer used these different points of view to keep the story unfolding, and ways that she worked to keep them distinct.

Opening Line:

“There’s no place for me. I’m getting squeezed out of my own house.”

Quotes:

“I’m always trying to become invisible in this house, trying to find the one place I can be myself where no one can bother me.”

“It would surprise a lot of people in the world if they found out what ghosts are really like.”

“She was wearing her long black dress with the white collar and staring at my father with that same, hungry, longing look that I recognized from the eyes of every ghost I had ever seen.”

“Cold from the stone steps was seeping up through my cloak and turning me to ice.”

Visit Newfoundland author Charis Cotter at her website: http://www.chariscotter.ca/

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: The Dead Kid Detective Agency

Today’s pick:  The Dead Kid Detective Agency by Evan Munday

From Amazon.ca:

Thirteen-year-old October Schwartz is new in town; short on friends and the child of a clinically depressed science teacher, she spends her free time in the Sticksville Cemetery and it isn’t long before she befriends the ghosts of five dead teenagers, each from a different era of the past.

Using October’s smarts and the ghosts’ abilities to walk through walls and roam around undetected, they form the Dead Kid Detective Agency, a group committed to solving Sticksville’s most mysterious mysteries. So when the high school’s beloved French teacher dies in a suspicious car accident, it provides the agency with its first bona fide case, putting them in the midst of a murder plot thick with car chases, cafeteria fights, and sociopathic math teachers, and sending them on an adventure that might just uncover the truth about a bomb that exploded 40 years ago.

My Take:

This was an intriguing book. The concept of “ghost detectives” was engaging and I enjoyed the writer’s style and humour (though it might not be for everyone). Another unique aspect of this story was the incorporation of elements of Canadian history that I haven’t seen before in fiction—the FLQ bombings. The story alternated between first person and third person, which was a bit jarring and took a bit of getting used to, but I liked October (the main character) and was rooting for her to solve the mystery. Also, I think this is the first middle grade novel I’ve read that includes curling!

From a writer’s perspective, I’d read this again just to get a sense for how to create a distinctive voice. This story has many unique elements that make it stand out from others that I’ve read.

Quotes:

“Her minions stared at October, waiting for her to spontaneously combust from the insult.”

“I started crying, and this time I didn’t care that I was breaking my stupid no-tears pact. I’d never been so grateful to have a concerned, nosy parent before in my life.”

 Other Info:

Evan Munday is an illustrator and cartoonist as well as a writer. He lives in Toronto and works as a publicist at Coach House Books.

The Dead Kid Detective Agency book trailer is a Letterman style top five list of reasons why to read the book.

On his blog, Evan Munday has a sneak peak of a couple of the illustrations in the second book, called The Dead Kid Detective Agency: Dial M for Morna.

The Dead Kid Detective Agency is nominated for the Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading in the Silver Birch category for 2013. Other nominated books that I’ve featured include: Dragon Seer's Gift by Janet McNaughton, Cat Found by Ingrid Lee, A Tinfoil Sky by Cyndi Sand-Eveland, The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis and Making Bombs for Hitler by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch.

 

Other books by this author include:

The Dead Kid Detective Agency: Dial ‘M’ for Morna, coming soon

 For more, visit The Dead Kid Detective Agency page at ECW Press.

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday was dreamed up by the incredible Shannon Messenger, author of the middle grade novel Keeper of the Lost Cities and the new YA novel, Let the Sky Fall. Visit her blog for an up-to-date list of all the bloggers who are participating and posting about middle grade books today!

 

 

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: All the Lovely Bad Ones

Today’s pick: All the Lovely Bad Ones by Mary Downing Hahn

Clarion Books, 2008

Publisher’s Description:

Travis and his sister, Corey, can’t resist a good trick. When they learn that their grandmother’s quiet Vermont inn, where they’re spending the summer, has a history of ghost sightings, they decide to do a little “haunting” of their own. Before long, their supernatural pranks have tourists flocking to the inn and business booms.

But Travis and Corey soon find out that they aren’t the only ghosts at Fox Hill Inn. Their thoughtless games have awakened something dangerous, something that should have stayed asleep. Restless, spiteful spirits swarm the inn, while a dark and terrifying presence stalks the halls and the old oak grove on the inn’s grounds. Only Travis and Corey can lay to rest the ghosts they’ve stirred. This means discovering the secret of Fox Hill and the horrors visited on its inhabitants years before…

Once again, Mary Downing Hahn has created a chilling and gripping ghost story in the tradition of The Old Willis Place, Witch Catcher, and Deep and Dark and Dangerous.

My take:

I don’t usually read ghost stories but I’ve seen this one at the library often so I thought it must be a good one. It wasn’t a long book and it was fast-paced, so I read it quickly. I loved the idea that by pretending to be ghosts, Corey and Travis woke some real ghosts and spirits. It was definitely a little scary! I liked the way different ghosts in the story had different motives. The characters of the guests staying at the inn added some humour to the story.

As a writer, I’d study this novel more closely to see how the writer builds suspense.

How I discovered this book:

 I found this on the shelf at my local library and I was attracted to the spooky cover.

 

Other info:

Mary Downing Hahn was once a children’s librarian and has been writing children’s books for over 30 years. Her books include historical fiction, contemporary fiction, and fantasy, but she is best known for her mysteries and ghost stories.

According to her website, one of the reasons she likes writing ghost stories is because “a ghost may also give a character insight or empathy, a deeper understanding of his own nature or of the world around him.”

One suggestion she has for writers is “Keep your writing vivid by using as many of your senses as you can.”

This author lives in Maryland.

Other books by this author include:

Closed for the Season (2009)

Deep and Dark and Dangerous (2007) – a ghost story

Witch Catcher (2006)

Janey And The Famous Author (2005)

The Old Willis Place (2004) – a ghost story

Hear the Wind Blow (2003)

Anna on the Farm (2001)

Promises to the Dead (2000)

Anna All Year Round (1999)

As Ever, Gordy (1998)

Following My Own Footsteps (1996)

The Gentleman Outlaw and Me—Eli (1996)

Look for Me by Moonlight (1995)

Time for Andrew (1994)

The Wind Blows Backward (1993)

The Spanish Kidnapping Disaster (1991)

Stepping on the Cracks (1991)

The Dead Man in Indian Creek (1990)

The Doll in the Garden (1989) – a ghost story

December Stillness (1988)

Following the Mystery Man (1988)

The Jellyfish Season (1987)

Tallahassee Higgins (1987)

Wait Till Helen Comes (1986) – a ghost story

Daphne's Book (1983)

The Time of the Witch (1982)

The Sara Summer (1979)
 

For more, visit Mary Downing Hahn’s website.

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday was dreamed up by the incredible Shannon Messenger. Visit her blog for an up-to-date list of all the bloggers who are participating and posting about middle grade books today!