This is a new series by Robert D. San Souci. I picked it because it's a collection of scary short stories which is what my son likes best. However, the book sat there for a couple of weeks so I thought someone should read it. The book has 10 short scary stories all centered around houses - even though with some of the stories it's a stretch. They were all well written with a good combination of fright and relief so that even the youngest reader won't have nightmares. Not all of the stories have a happy ending though and that made for a good mix. The book is considered middle grade (4th-7th) but has a simple enough style that a younger reader could read the book. It's not a short book at nearly 300 pages but it is broken into 10 stories so no one tires. I am interested in seeing where the author is going to go with the series. I was not familiar with him but it seems he quite a selection of scary stories. I did attempt some reading outloud to my son and found it worked well except my son didn't come across as that interested but then we were in the doctor's office.
One thing I really appreciated about the book was the diversity of the characters. It seemed that the author managed to touch on all the "major" cultures. I was rather impressed that he didn't fall into casual stereotypes either. This could be a good classroom story book with some follow up on cultural ghost stories - The Tea House being a good crossover story since it touches on some asian folklore. All in all I consider this a good read and for those adults out there who disagree, remember it was written for children so get over it.
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