From My Reading Chair…
Welcome to haunting school.
Groana, Moana and Shrieky (the CUTEST!) are learning the essential tricks of their trade: how to creep, how to shriek and how to deliver a scare with appropriate ghostly flourish.
Carolyn Crimi’s alternating rhyme gives the lessons a springy, slightly mischievous cadence. There’s room to pause, anticipate the next scare and make your own ghost noises together. (Are you Team BOO or Team OooOOOooOO?!)
The young ghosts stomp, spook and slam their way through their lessons until they encounter a Frankenstein family. All that practice, all that spectral swagger, and nobody will oblige them with so much as a shudder. What’s a ghost got to do to get a decent scream around here?!
I love how thoroughly this family scuppers their spooky plans. Imagine turning up to frighten the living daylights out of somebody who looks like they’ve already had theirs stitched back in!
One ghoul’s nightmare is another monster’s… Tuesday, apparently! These three will have to work out what actually frightens their intended victims. You can’t assume somebody’s scared of monsters when they’re related to half of them.
Edward Miller gives these little spectres plenty of personality to go with their professional predicament. The bold shapes and expressive faces make their antics easy to follow. His bright, playful palette has me smiling when I should clearly be practising my screaming.
All that haunting homework, and you’re about as alarming as a misplaced tea towel. I’m chuckling, but having followed instructions myself and still ended up utterly befuddled, I do sympathise! Time to think outside the casket!
How to Haunt a House has me rooting for three ghosts to successfully frighten a Franken-family. A good haunting, it seems, requires imagination, but a great one requires knowing your audience.
Class dismissed. Please float calmly towards the exit and try not to frighten the furniture!
Creep on Reading, Pumpkins!