Thursday, October 6, 2016

Review: Ghost Fever Mal de Fantasma by Joe Hayes #DiversityBooks #Halloween #ghost #MiddleGrade #ChapterBooks



Summary:
This tells the story of a haunted house in a poor little town in Arizona. Even when the landlord offers free rent, nobody moves in because they know a ghost lives there. That is, until Elena’s father rents it.
He doesn’t believe in ghosts. Lucky for Elena that her grandmother knows all about the ways of ghosts. She helps her solve the mystery of the “ghost on the roof” while Elena learns a very important lesson about life.

My review:

This is to me, a classic paranormal story. A house has been haunted and its inhabitants are a bit scared. In this case, the ghostly presence of a girl, speaks to the living and makes her understand why she died.

I have watched many a paranormal show where the ghost have been pushed out of a house without trying to find out why the are in limbo to begin with. I enjoyed that the daughter, Elena, in this book, not only helped this girl move on but she set things up so that another could live a good life.

This chapter book was written in English and Spanish which not only spoke to the authors style of writing but also the diversity of the characters in the book which were Hispanic. Some Spanish is intertwined within the English in order to make a strong point. That to me was interesting.

There are few illustrations, as again, this is a chapter book, but the ones that are in the book help give the spooky vibe that the book was meant to be.

I love this story and since the author is actually a story teller by trade, I would love to hear his verbal telling. This story deserves a 5 star.

Do no believe me? This book won the  Texas Bluebonnet Award for 2007.




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