The Haunted Planet: 08/02/06

I like ghost stories and I like short stories. A book of short ghost stories is perfect! These stories were written for a younger audience, probably of the middle school range of ages. Nonetheless, it's still a fun read for an afternoon. Although the stories are aimed at children, they aren't devoid of horror and suspense. Some of them are a little goofy but I did experience some genuine chills while reading this book.

Here's my BookCrossing review:

What a perfect read for a Friday night! There are seven short horror stories aimed at younger readers (probably grades 4-7). They are: "The Haunted Gull", "The Empty Hotel", "Ghost Flight", "The Bridge", "The Robot's Revenge", "Don't Go Into the Baby's Room", and "The House on Pearl Street".

My favorite of the set is the first one. It is reminiscent of Poe's "The Raven" and Hitchcock's film, The Birds. My next favorite is "Ghost Flight" as it has a Twilight Zone feel to it with the protagonist being the only one who can see what trouble lies ahead but is unable to make those in power believe him. The book ends on a good one too, though I wish there was a little more follow-through; I wanted to know more about the house on Pearl Street and the creature who lived inside.

My least favorite of the stories were "The Empty Hotel" which tries for something akin to The Shining but falls flat and The Robot's Revenge which can't decide if the horror is technology gone bad or a vengeful ghost in the machine.

The remaining stories left me scratching my head. They started out good but their endings seemed to come too soon and without much thought to the rest of the plot.

I got The Haunted Planet from a pile of books that another BookCrosser had rescued from a library discard sale. These were books that they couldn't keep and couldn't sell. I love finding gems like this book at charity sales and whatnot. I hope this book finds other eager readers after I release it. It's currently available on the Book Relay site.

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