This book may take place in Ghastly, Illinois, but it is far from scary. This clever ghost story is about the unlikely relationship between a boy, a cat, a grumpy old man and an old ghost who all live together in a haunted house.
The Director of The International Movement for the Safety & Protection Of Our Kids & Youth (IMSPOOKY) is Dick Tater (note the name play!) who is out to rid the town of Halloween, ghost stories and anything to do with ghosts. This hardly makes sense to the inhabitants of the Spence Mansion at 43 Old Cemetery Road who have a thriving business writing and selling ghost stories. Mr. Tater uses his authority to break up this trio of ghost writers – at least that is what he thinks!
Told mostly in letters, newspaper articles and illustrations, this witty book will delight readers – especially those who are just looking for some ghostly fun!
Posted by: Wendy
This is book 2 in The Last Apprentice series. I normally do not recommend violent, scary books but occasionally I do like to read them and this is a series that I enjoy and it is October! The moon is bright, the nights are dark and moody and Halloween is right around the corner, so if you like gruesome, scary books this might be a series for you. But beware, it is not for the faint of heart. It is medieval and has a Spook whose job is to rid the country of witches and boggarts and other dark spirits. This particular book also has a Quisitor who gets rich by accusing people of witch craft and then convicting them and burning them at the stake and confiscating all their worldly goods. There is an evil spirit , the Bane, who lives in the catacombs under the cathedral . It is an ancient evil that was locked behind a silver gate but now is growing stronger and corrupting the priests and the people. The Spook was unable to totally defeat the bane when he was young but he has returned with his young apprentice, Tom, to try once again. Tom, though only an apprentice for 6 months is the seventh son of a seventh son and his mother is a good witch so he has lots of inner strength and has already had lots of experience. When the Spook is captured by the Quisitor it is up to Tom to save him and help him with his challenge. Recommended for stout hearted 6th graders and up.
October is a terrific month to read first-rate thrillers and very few authors cover the genre better that Mary Downing Hahn. Closed for the Season is her latest entry into a long list of chillers like Wait ‘til Helen Comes, The Doll in the Garden, The Old Willis Place and All the Lovely Bad Ones to name a few.
I know I’ve dropped the ball on this one—every other blogger seems to have had an Advanced Reading Copy of this book for months and months. 
In this very suspenseful and scary story, which takes place in New York City, 1872, fourteen-year-old Horace signs on as a photographer’s apprentice and becomes entangled in his lazy employer’s scheme to create fraudulent spirit photographs. Horace, a rational and upright person, wants no part of such goings on, and just wants to learn the art of photography. When he gets forced into his employer’s scheme, Horace discovers the photos he takes accidentally free the real ghost of a dead girl bent on revenge against those who harmed her in life.
Imagine listening to music on the radio when suddenly there is an announcement, “Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt our program to bring you a special bulletin . . . there’s a report that several explosions have been observed on the planet Mars.
