Do you believe in ghosts?!

Spooky Stories

Written by: Sam Baer, Jonathan Weil, Andy Prentice @prenticeweil, Russell Punter

Illustrated by: Lia Visirin @liavisirin

Published by: Usborne @Usborne

Published: September 2024

Price: £12.99

First line: Raheem was bored.

Genre: Spooky!

Thanks to @toppsta and @Usborne for the review copy

What’s it all about? This is a collection of eight retellings of classic scary stories from around the world featuring: a book that talks; an evil treehouse; an ancient Egyptian hand; a spooky room; a man half made of wax; a diamond necklace; a whistle; and a killing tree! Ill go into a little more detail here about some of them. The first story, first written by Amelia Edwards in 1864 and known as the ‘Phantom Coach’, is written about Raheem, who finds an old journal in a rented house on the North Yorkshire Moors. Within the journal, is a tale told by Charlie who ends up lost in a snow storm, and then inside a coach that crashed nine years before. ‘The Treehouse’ takes a more sinister, psychological turn I feel, and is more like one of the stories from the book, ‘Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror’ by Chris Priestley. The boy’s friend, Stephen, gradually withdraws from the friendship to spend more and more time in the tree, where children are known to have fallen out of and died. Then, we have: ‘The Mysterious Hand’, first written by Theophile Gautier in 1840 and known as ‘The Mummy’s Foot’. Another classic tale, fiting in neatly with the fascination at that time of Egypt, of a girl who finds an old Egyptian hand in a shop and the owner then comes back to find it, whisking her away to Egypt. H.G. Wells published ‘The Red Room’ in 1896 and this modern retelling brilliantly builds up the tension with the star being dared to stay in the room at the top of the house for a whole night. Cue the start of: flickering lamps, shadowy corridors and everything the colour of blood. Genuinely, a terrifying proposition. The ‘Half-Wax Man’ is a traditional tale from central Africa. In a similar way to children being told that saying ‘Bloody Mary’ three times in front of a mirror will illicit a ghostly response, if you say, ‘Come Chiruwi’ three times, the half-wax man will come and find you. However, if you beat him, you will be granted special powers. There is a similar tale in Japan, about Hanako-san – a spirit that haunts toilets!

Why should I read it? The stories, many actually hundreds of years old, have been modernised, with WiFi, diverse characters, mobile phones and trips to faraway lands. The language is deep and descriptive and with the age of some of the stories and their varied locations, a lot of new language could be brought to some children for the first time. I like how in the Phantom Journal (quite a traditional story), the narrator of the story’s commentary is interspersed between the retelling of the ghost story. An unusual occurance, and perhaps a new pattern for some readers. Some of the stories, ‘The Treehouse’ for instance, do rely a lot on psychological tension, and some children may find this difficult to read. Other stories are more out and out tales of seeing ghosts. For me personally, the weakest tale was about a whistle that supposedly brings a ghost to attack you if you blow it. However, like in many of the other stories, there are some brilliant illustrations to bring the stories to life.