"The Girls' Ghost Hunting Guide" Review

"The Girls' Ghost Hunting Guide"
by Stacey Graham

Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Release Date: May 1, 2012
Source: sent by publisher

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Summary from goodreads.com:  

What was that noise? The cat? The wind?
Little brother stealing a peek at your diary?
Or is it a ghost?
The Girls' Ghost Hunting Guide will help you identify the creepy crawlers from the spooky spirits, the howling winds from the haunting phantoms. And with this guide you can learn from real experts how to investigate and contact your very own ghosts!
Everything a girl needs for a night full of fun, including:
• Spooky urban legends to set the mood
• Must-have stuff for your ghost hunting kit
• Pointers for leading the best-ever ghost hunt
• Tips for writing your own ghost
• With fun quizzes, games, recipes, and more!
So gather your friends if they are brave enough, grab a flashlight, and go investigate!

My Review:

I'm a big fan of spooky ghost stories, and there are a lot of ghost stories and urban legends throughout this book. It's not all ghost stories though, there is a large portion of the book devoted to going out and doing your own ghost investigation. There are a lot of practical and fun tips for young girls (and not so young girls!).

The book itself is so cute, it's printed on shiny paper with cute designs on every page, when I was expecting plain black and white. The sections go really quickly and there are a lot of aspects, quizzes, ghosts stories, how-tos, all mixed in together.

I have to warn you though, that even though I enjoy ghost stories, some of these were pretty scary. I thought maybe a little too spooky for the middle grade age group. I didn't want to read this one at night, and I can see a lot of young readers having some sleepless nights after reading this.

I really liked the chapter about the ghost themed slumber party. Who else remembers "Light as a Feather and Stiff as a Board?" The author lists a few other new similar supernatural tricks and treats, like tipping the table and more.

Another great chapter that I really wasn't expecting was the chapter about writing your own ghost story. There are some awesome tips about how to write a good spine-tingler, as well as how to tell the story to others at your party. I'm ready for the campfire and s'mores now!


Bottom Line: A fun, if scary at times, sampler of ways to host your own ghost themed slumber party and ghost hunting expedition.



Bonus Materials:
 

Check out the Phantom Party Packet and Event Guide, available on Sourcebooks' educators' page. You can really tell a lot about the style of the book from this sampler!