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Help A Reader Out: Spooky Story Collection for the Younger Set

Someone HAS to know this one. How many children’s books out there can possibly have housecleaning witches, spooky skeletons, Nessie, and a family of ghosts, all inside the same covers?

Tracy says:

This book isn’t part of a series like “scary stories to tell in the dark” or “goosebumps” and it’s for a younger demographic than those. It is illustrated and has several spooky themed short stories. One was about a grumpy witch who finds happiness by opening a cleaning service. I specifically remember her kicking a child’s tricycle and saying “get your ding-dang tricycle out of my driveway”.

There was also a story about a skeleton who liked to jump out from behind a gravestone to scare people, but one day he tried to scare a scotty dog and the dog stole his tasty leg bones.

There was a story about someone playing bagpipes on Loch Ness and disrupting Nessie.

The last story was about an extended ghost family getting ready to go out haunting for the night. The mom was ironing everyone’s sheets, the kids were playing with the ghost dog. The last page of the book showed the mom and dad ghost kissing the kids and tucking them in to bed. I think the back cover had the ghost family on a pirate ship. I can’t remember what the front color looked like but it may have been ghosts in a castle.

I obtained the book in the early 1990s.  It’s probably first published around then.

Thank you.

Let’s see if we can help Tracy out. Please let me know if you have ANY ideas!

Book Review: Suspicion by Alexandra Monir

   Suspicion by Alexandra Monir

Delacorte Press, December 2014

ISBN: 978-0385743891

Available: Pre-order (hardcover and Kindle edtions)

 

Hot on the heels of her two previous books (Timeless, Timekeeper), author Alexandra Monir gives us Suspicion, a tale of secrets and suspense that lurk behind the iron gates of a modern day “Downton Abbey,” the magnificent and mysterious Rockford Manor.

Imogen lived in New York as a young girl, but she would often spend summers in Wickersham, England with her family at the grand estate known as Rockford Manor. One summer, while Imogen, her cousin Lucia, and friends Sebastian and Theo, are busy helping the groundskeeper plant flowers, Imogen accidentally discovers that she has supernatural powers – and a remarkable green thumb.

One night as she and Lucia are asleep in the boathouse, Imogen wakes to a raging fire in the garden, and sadly, both girls lose their parents to the devastating blaze. But not before Imogen’s father reveals there’s something special hidden within the garden’s curious maze. It’s decided that young Lucia will stay on at Rockford Manor in the care of her grandfather and a house full of servants, while Imogen is whisked back to New York, to live with friends of her family.

Over the years, the girls lose touch. Yet right before her high school graduation, Imogen’s past catches up with her. She receives word that both her grandfather and cousin have died, making Imogen sole heir to Rockford Manor and all of its twisted secrets.

For fans of The Princess Diaries or the classic Rebecca, this is a good fit —  and it looks like the author has left some wiggle room for a sequel, too. Recommended for ages 12 and over.

Contains: Teen Romance

 

Reviewed by Tina Mockmore

 

Book Review: The Troop by Nick Cutter

The Troop by Nick Cutter

Gallery Books, 2014

ISBN-13: 978-1-4767-1771-5

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition

 

This story is an experience in terror. A very hungry stranger arrives in the town of Lower Montague, Prince Edward Island. The man becomes the talk of the town for eating huge quantities of food. The man then steals a boat and heads to a small island where Scoutmaster Tim Riggs and five scouts are having their annual weekend camping trip. The boys are all good friends and they get along with Scoutmaster Tim, as they call him, but Tim has a bad feeling about the camping trip this year.

 

After dinner, the boys go to their cabin to tell ghost stories. All the typical characters are present: there’s Kent, the popular one, son of the police chief in town; Newton, the nerd; Shelly, the odd one; Max, the boy next door; and Ephraim, the tough guy. While they’re talking, the stranger arrives on the small island. Scoutmaster Tim meets the man, who begs for help and food. Although Tim is afraid of the stranger, and feels there is something very wrong with him, Tim feels it is his duty to help, because in addition to being the Scoutmaster, he is also the town doctor. To make things worse, Tim’s never never seen anything quite like this stranger — he’s a genetically-altered nightmare.

 

Later that night, a storm comes in, and all hell breaks loose. Through no fault of their own, the boys are left all alone. One by one they must assess their situations, and are forced to do things that no one should ever have to do as they fight to survive and get home. What will happen as the scouts are faced with the elements, their own fears and suspicions, and the possibility of injury and infection?

 

This book gives the reader a perfect build-up of human horror. The stranger is just a guy who is down on his luck so agreed to submit to medical experiments in exchange for cash; a scary scenario in itself, and a situation with some real-life basis. The boys are all realistically written, and the reader can easily sympathize with their fear, doubt, and anger at what happens to them. The Troop is a very good, highly intense read. Highly recommended for adult readers.

 

Contains: violence and death, violence involving children

Reviewed by Diana Lord