Skip to main content

Ghost Hunter's Daughter

By


Ghost Hunter's Daughter
By Dan Poblocki
New York: Scholastic 2020, Fiction. 273 p. 

Claire's father is a television personality known worldwide for finding and banishing spirits. But Claire doesn't really believe in any of it until a classmate named Lucas tells her that her dad is in danger. Lucas's grandmother is a medium; spirits of the dead come to her, sometimes with unfinished business, sometimes with messages for their living loved ones, but always with a knock on the door. This power has been passed on from generation to generation. When Lucas is compelled to open the door one night he finds the ghost of Claire's deceased mother, begging for someone to help her husband. The two kids take matters into their own hands and go to the cursed town of Hush Falls Holler, the last place Claire's dad was seen. Where is Claire's dad? And if they find him, can they save him? 

This is a well-paced and fully realized horror story for middle grades. There are plenty of scares in Ghost Hunter's Daughter. Hush Falls Holler holds a spooky past and a malicious spirit called Lemuel Hush. Lucas's newfound spiritual powers lead to terrifying visions. Danger and mystery lurk around every corner, and the climax holds a chilling twist. At the same time, the characters of Claire and Lucas are both given opportunity for growth and development as revealed through the perspective switches throughout the novel. Even with some real loss at the end of the story, Ghost Hunter's Daughter has a satisfying resolution. A perfect Halloween read!

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stand Tall by Joan Bauer

By DeeDee
Stand Tall By Siena Siegel by Joan Bauer Putnam, 2002, 182 pgs Realistic Fiction Tree is 12 years old and over 6 feet tall. That would be great if he were a basketball player, but he is not. Dealing with his unusual size is not Tree's only challenge. Tree's parents have recently gone through a divorce, and his grandfather has had his leg amputated as the result of an old Vietnam War injury. The strength of this book is the characterizations. All of the main characters are dimensional and sympathetic. Bauer sets the characters in real and often funny family situations. Best of all is the character of Tree. He is boy with a heart to match his stature. This is a great book for boys or girls ages 9-12, as a read aloud or for individual reading. This book could also be a good Rx book for children whose families are going through divorce, or for anyone who feels like they don't fit in.
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The Factory

By
The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages.  Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Faker

By
Faker By Gordon Korman New York: Scholastic Press, 2024. Fiction. 214 pages. 12-year-old Trey is used to starting over at a new school -- he has the routine perfectly memorized: make new friends, introduce his dad to the wealthy parents of his new friends, and "Houdini" themselves out of there before they get caught running their latest scam. Trey's dad is a master con artist, and Trey has just been promoted to full-partner. Their new scheme for the next big score brings them to the affluent suburb of Boxelder, TN where Trey's dad has cooked up a fake electric car company for investors to buy into. The only problem is that Trey is starting to grow tired of moving around and never putting down roots, especially after forming a fast friendship with Logan and developing a crush on Kaylee, a socially conscious girl in his class. As Trey longs for a normal life, is there any way he can convince his dad to get out of the family business? Gordon Korman is a perennial favorit...
Post a Comment
Read more