This Book Is Haunted

Children will love this tickling collection of poems and short tales...told by a ghost!

Cherie Ilg Haas - Children's Literature

Although as it claims, this book is "not too scary," it is filled with creepy drawings and even creepier stories. It is a great collection of six short stories and poems that begins with an introduction from a spooky monster. With as much rhythm as a child's step during trick-or-treating, the text is easy to read and sounds great when read out loud. Skeletons, ghosts, witches, and mummies fill the pages in dark autumn and Halloween colors. The first story, "105 Windy Street" is about two girls who go out to collect their candy and make one last stop at the said address. When the girls cry "trick or treat" the spooky occupants, a ghost and a witch, answer the door without candy and give only a scare to the children. "Witch's Stew" is about just that: dead black bugs and monsters' teeth are just a couple of the goulish ingredients in this treat of a poem. This title is "An I Can Read Book" of Level 1, Beginning Reading. 2002, HarperCollins Publishers Inc, Ages 7 to 11.

Joanne Rocklin is the author of numerous books for children, including many Hello Math Readers for Scholastic. She lives in Oakland, California.