Daren King (text) & David Roberts (illustrations)(Quercus)
After scaring off the coinhabitants – the lives ones – of their house, our frightfully friendly ghosties are back in a new adventure. It’s winter and it is cold so they decide they fancy a holler-day by the sea, where apparently the weather is always nice. They seem unable to agree on the destination (Frighten-on-Sea or Scare-borough!) when a postcard from Headless Leslie appears and helps them make their minds up: he is stuck in Frighten-on-Sea and has forgotten his way home! Off they go to find him (despite Wither’s reservations), and intend to enjoy their holler-day with visiting the fun fair and the Frighten pier. But something dark and spooky is lurking in the shadows of the town. Could this be anything to do with Headless Leslie’s inability to make his way home?
Those frightfully friendly ghosties are back and are just as fun as in their first adventure (see my review here). It is just as quirky, silly and fun as the first was, with lots of repetition and pun on words. The characters are totally wacky and really likeable. There is nothing spooky about those ghosties, and although the dark figure that lurks in the alleyways might look a bit threatening at first, he turns out to be a magician with a big grin of a smile. So it is a perfectly safe Halloween read for those children ready to move on from picture books.
I love the way the humour “talks” to both children and adults on different levels. The young readers will love the silly humour, and adults will appreciate Daren King’s wit. It is a short little book, perfect for bedtime over a few days. The lovely black and white illustrations by talented illustrator David Roberts compliment the text perfectly. I’d love to know where he took his inspiration from for Frighten Pier, which spookily looks my local pier, Clevedon Pier:
Recommended, as with the first.
Sent for review by publisher
