A Bad Case of Ghosts

Giles Barnes moves to into an old fixer-upper house just at the beginning of the summer. He founds the house creepy and is not looking forward to going all summer with no friends. He hears all sorts of noises in his room at night, even what sounds like bird wings. Then one day, right outside his front step he meets Tina and Kevin Quark, geniuses, studying his house with a strange machine Tina has invented. Seems it's a ghostometer and Giles house has heavy readings of ghost activity. It isn't long before the ghosts show themselves and with the help of Tina and Kevin, Giles try to get rid of the ghosts once and for all. Easy to read and short, therefore pretty much all action and plot. But still one can see Oppel's unique storyline. These are not just your average ghosts! Well written and an intriguing story that kept me interested. Despite the short length the author has managed to give the characters distinct identities and there is plenty of humour to go along with the adventure. Young readers are sure to enjoy!

These books are fun, light, easy reads, intended for children who are growing out of picture books but not yet ready to tackle full-length novels. Coming in at around 60 pages they can easily be read in a session or two. This story revolves around the beginning of the friendship of Barnes and the Brains. Giles Barnes has just moved and he finds the house, old, musty and creepy. On his second day in the new home, he notices two kids across the street staring at his house with some sort of electronic instrument. When he goes to meet them they say they are listening for ghosts and his house is haunted. Giles soon realizes this is the truth and his house if full of Ghost birds. That is when the fun really begins. These stories seem to revolve around themes of friendship, self understanding and self worth, all wrapped up in fun and mysteries. Kenneth Oppel has created a great series with something to teach us all. The six books currently planned in this series were originally published by Scholastic between 1994 and 2004. Now they are being reissued by Harper Collins, in new editions with new cover art. Now to be honest, I prefer the original Scholastic covers, but that is just a matter of personal taste. Yet we can only hope that more books will soon come out in this grand series.