The Ghost of Whispering Rocdk

Despite a rocky beginning and vast differences in interests, Amy and Erika renew their friendship with the help of a ghost story. By the author of Oh Honestly, Angela!

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-5-- Amy, a hopeful future naturalist, lives with her parents in a noisy, dark, city apartment. Each summer, they spend several weeks in the country. This year, Amy's former best friend and neighbor until they were four, Erika, is joining the family for a week at their cabin. Amy looks forward to introducing her to the joys of nature, only to find that Erika's consuming interests are video games, TV, and horror comics. The contrived plot includes Erika's sudden transformation from selfish, spoiled video brat to cooperative friend after Amy gets her interested in a ghost story she makes up. An encounter with a copperhead gives Amy a chance to share her knowledge of snakes, the girls finish the ghost story together, and Erika decides to stay an extra week. The characters are somewhat one-dimensional. The writing style keeps them at a distance so that readers don't share enough of their feelings and motives. This is not up to the standards set by Cleary, Giff, Gilson, Hurwitz, or even Robinson herself in books such as Just Plain Cat (1984) and Veronica the Showoff (1984, both Four Winds). --Eunice Weech, M. L. King Elementary School, Urbana, ILCopyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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