A Haunt of Ghosts

A collection of ten ghost stories by authors including Aidan Chambers, Joan Aiken, and Edward Bulwer-Lytton

From School Library Journal

Grade 6 Up This selection of ten horrifying ghost stories celebrates the traditions of the genre. Three of the tales take place in haunted houses where fearsome spirits materialize and terror grips the hardy souls who dare to spend the night, and two describe restless spirits, new to the world of the dead, who try to communicate with the living. In others, an evil child can invoke a ghastly monster; a young man's long hair attracts a malevolent, invisible spirit; and an ugly creature, ``old Fillikin'' inhabits a well and responds to a schoolboy's wish. There is even a coachman who, plying his trade along the Old North Road, encounters ``Nancy Tucker's Ghost'' with surprising results. Five of the stories are by Chambers himself; four others, by Joan Aiken, Jan Mark, Lance Salway, and John Gordon were commissioned for an earlier anthology; and the collection is capped by Chambers' adaptation of a fine tale by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. All are distinguished by good writing. Altogether, the volume will provide pleasure and a source of real-aloud tales for lovers of ghosts and spirits. Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River, N.J.Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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