Book Review: Ten Timid Ghosts (O’Connell)

Ten Timid Ghosts

Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.

Genre: Children’s Lit

Subgenre: Halloween, Spine-Chilling Horror, Beginning Readers

Reviewer: Sara

Book received from: Purchased at book fair

Synopsis (Amazon blurb): “It’s Halloween, and ten timid ghosts in a haunted house have a problem: A mean witch is preparing to move in and scare them away, one by one! Young trick-or-treaters learn to count from ten to one as each ghost flies away from the witch’s spooky tricks. Will the ghosts figure out how to frighten the witch away in time for Halloween night?”

Review:

Busy moms (and dads): This is a great book for October and Halloween! In our house, it’s a favorite book no matter the season. A charming story about ghosts being chased from their haunted home by a witch, it’s sure to be much loved for Halloween, and possibly all year!

Count down from ten to one as all of the ghosts are tricked into fleeing to the woods. The story reads with a sing-song rhythm and has the added benefit of practicing counting (or subtraction) into reading time. It’s told in delightful rhymes and accompanied by hilarious illustrations. The antics of the witch and ghosts always get giggles during our reads!

In addition to the silly actions in verse there are details in each of the pictures, like the box from which the rubber rat came and various hiding places for each of the ghosts in each scene. The older the child, the more they can appreciate some of these more subtle jokes. There’s an important lesson introduced by the story and it creates an opportunity to discuss it with your kids: how to cope when someone is being unkind (or worse). Best of all, there’s a lesson in it for any would-be-mean-witches out there: Don’t mess with the ten timid ghosts! 😉

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Have you read Ten Timid Ghosts or is it on your “to-read” shelf? What was your favorite part?

I’m always on the lookout for new books to add to the “to-read-and-review” shelf, especially children’s books by indie or newly published authors. If you have any to recommend, please share in the comments and many thanks!

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