Daren King
(Quercus)
Pamela Fraidy, who is a ghost, has been locked into the attic by mistake by the still-alives. She is desperate to get out, as she has found out she has a leggy spider for company. The other frightfully friendly ghosties are desperately trying to get out of there but it is no easy task: how can someone without a body pick up a key and take it upstairs? As Tabitha Tumbly (the poltergeist), Charlie Vapour (the ghost who can go through doors) and friends try to work out how to rescue Pamela, they call on each other’s abilities and talents to help. In the process, they try to make friends with the still-alives who inhabit the house, but the still-alives’ response to the ghosties’ attempt at friendship is not one that they expected, and the mission to rescue Pamela soon turns into a mission to hold on to their home.
Who would have thought ghosts had low self-esteem issues and had an incontrollable urge to be really polite? The ghosts in this story definitely have and this a great little read! It’s so quirky, it’s delicious! The plot is simple enough that young readers can tackle it confidently. The silliness of the story will be well appreciated by its readers: the repetitions in the text (like Charlie Vapour constantly taking his hat off “because it’s the polite thing to do”), the total inability of the ghosts to realise that they are scaring the pants off the still-alives (such as when they think the priest – brought into the house to exorcise it – is trying to convert them to religion), the amazingly complicated and yet totally logical ghosties’ three rules and many more wacky episodes!
There is something for everyone however, and the humour is very adult and parent friendly. In fact while I was reading it I could see that some of the funny episodes would actually be funnier to me than to my seven year-old son. Still, this in no way spoils the book, and if anything, it makes it a great book to read-aloud and share between parents and children , and not only for parents who have non-readers who want to move on to chapter books, but for everybody who enjoy sharing a good read and a good laugh with their offspring!
This great little text is complimented by David Roberts’ fantastic illustrations, which have definitely incorporated the essence of the story.
A great read, which far more than just a ghost story is! I thoroughly recommend it.
This one does look fun! One for the nieces, perhaps. Thanks!