Greta and the ghosts
Sam Copeland: Greta and the Ghost Hunters (Puffin Books, 2022) Greta doesn’t believe in ghosts. More precisely, she didn’t believe in them until she had an accident. Because from then on, she sees and hears the ghosts that haunt her home. However, this is not the biggest problem because her parents want to send Greta’s best friend, her elderly grandmother, to a nursing home. To prevent this, Greta will need supernatural help. Unfortunately, however, the new supernatural friends will also need help… The main message of Greta’s story is to face our fears. However, the author mediates this in a very humorous way, which makes the serious topic enjoyable. The characters are nice and Greta is a very good person who always has other people’s happiness in mind. This is a children’s book that I also recommend to adults, as we can learn important things from it. Books like this…
October woodlands
Katya Balen: October, October (Bloomsbury Publishing 2020) „We live in the woods and we are wild.” October lives with her father in the forest, where it seems that they are alone in the whole world and everything is theirs. They produce everything they need, only sometimes have to go to the nearby village, which they both find unbearable. October’s mother could not stand this life and returned to civilization, for which October could never forgive her. Two very important things happen on the girl’s 11th birthday: she finds an orphaned barn owl and takes it into her care, and her father has an accident and is hospitalized. October has to move to London, to live with her mother, which changes her and her owl Stig’s life. October is a child blessed with a rich imagination, who is smart and resourceful, so she can find her place even in the big…
Shadows and ghosts
Phil Hickes: Shadowhall Academy – The Whispering Walls (Usborne Publishing 2024) Suffolk, England, September 1987 Lilian Jones is just starting the new school year at the famous Shadowhall Academy. It’s already scary enough that she has to leave her family and friends and study at a new school, and she also has three roommates at the boarding school, where she has to make new friends and find her way in the maze of corridors, but those turn out to be the least of her worries. Spooky knocks and whispers can be heard from the walls at night. Lilian and her roommates decide to investigate it, but in the process they discover that Shadowhall hides many more secrets… Even the Aveline Jones series should be required reading in my opinion, but I also really liked this story. In it, we can read not only about ghosts, but also about the world…
October witches
Jennifer Claessen: The October Witches (Uclan Publishing 2022) There’s so much to love about October – for example Halloween, pumpkin flavored food and drinks, the cozy things, and of course, the magic that permeates it all. But for Clemmie and her family, the magic is the main reason they look forward to this month. For Clemmie this October, the stars can give her magic for the first time for a whole month. Until now, she had just watched her family take advantage of the only one month of the year they could use their powers. However, there are those who want to possess their magical powers all year round, putting Clemmie and her family in mortal danger. Is magic worth that much? The story is a surprisingly new adaptation of the Arthurian legend centered on the descendants of the two first witches, Morgan and Merlyn. The two families blame each…
Halloween TBR 2024
Some people don’t like Halloween, but since I like to read seasonal books, I can’t miss this opportunity. There’s so much to love about October – Halloween, pumpkin spice lattes, and of course, magic. But for Jennifer Claessen‘s main character, the young witch Clemmie, this October is even more special, because all members of her family received their powers this month, which, however, has many complications in store for her. „We live in the forest, we are wild.” This is what October thinks, who lives in the forest with her father, until everything changes on her eleventh birthday. Her father falls from a tree and is hospitalized, and October is forced to move in with her mother in London. How does she manage to adapt to the bustling big city and finds her place among people with her wildness? Most people know Alice Hoffman‘s cursed witches from the movie Practical…
Halloween book recommendations 2024
Phil Hickes: The Haunting of Aveline Jones (Usborne Publishing 2020) Aveline Jones is an ordinary twelve-year-old girl who is particularly interested in ghost stories. She lives with her mother in Bristol, who often tells her that sometimes she should read about other things too, because that way she only creates nightmares for herself. October promises to be particularly cold this year. In addition, Aveline has to spend the autumn break in a sleepy seaside town, Malmouth, with her aunt, whom she hardly knows, because her mother has to go to visit her grandmother in Scotland and would rather not take the little girl with her on such a long trip. However, Aveline doesn’t know yet that she won’t be bored, as she finds a new friend and a mystery to solve. Victoria Schwab: City of Ghosts (Scholastic 2018) Cassidy Blake’s parents are a successful pair of authors who write investigative…