Wednesday 6 November 2013

Home Sweet Horror by James Preller

Unfortunately I got this just too late to read to my class for Halloween, but it's a wonderfully spooky story which we'll definitely enjoy together on a dark and wintery afternoon. It's similar in style to Nick Shadow's Midnight Library books, which I also enjoy reading whenever I get a spare minute.

Liam, Kelly and their dad have just moved into a run-down and empty old house. As they pull up to the front door, Liam immediately realises that there is something creepy about the place as he notices that all the lights are flickering on and off. The next day, their father calls several local workmen to try and get them to come and help repair the house. Very few of them even return his call, and those who do all offer him the same advice; leave the house now before it's too late! As the days pass, Liam and Kelly start to hear menacing noises and voices from within the house's walls. Kelly's best friend, Mitali, comes to stay for a weekend visit and suggests that they try and summon up the ghost of the house. Unsurprisingly, this turns out to be an absolutely terrible idea, and things go very wrong, very quickly.

This creepy book can easily be read in under an hour as it has a simple plot which moves along at a great pace. There are spooky illustrations all the way through which help add to the atmosphere that the author creates. Of the hundreds of books published which tell the story of a family moving in to a haunted house, this is probably one of the best. Highly recommended for Year Five and Year Six.

Definitely read this if you enjoy creepy ghost stories (Horowitz Horror, Midnight Library, Chris Priestley's Tales of Terror).

Definitely DON'T read this if you are easily scared!

I'm now trying Home Sweet Horror with some of our braver Year Six book reviewers. I'll let you know what they think.

1 comment:

  1. Hi my name is Brady from the marsh school and I really want to read this book

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