Ghosts! presents a couple handfuls of short stories (some only a page long, others longer) that have some sort of "spooky" element. Ghosts or spirits of some kind are peppered throughout, whether they are mean little girls who died, cats who live on in a shop, or teeny tiny voice from the graveyard that demands its taken teeth back.

The stories in this book are based on legends/folklore (mainly from Europe) and they aren't creepy or scary so much as bizarre, in the way that older fairy tales often have elements we wouldn't suggest to kids now, like Rapunzel's prince having his eyes gouged out. So I while even I -- the queen of being easily afraid -- didn't find these stories to have anything frightening about them in a jump-scare sort of way, I did work on the fly to tone them down a bit for my younger audiences as I read aloud.

Personally, I found the large cartoon style of the illustrations off-putting as that's not the kind of graphics I prefer, but I'm guessing that the aim was to make the book less scary for any children who might be more skittish than me.

That all being said, my almost 6-year-old niece loved this book and asked me to read it over and over again, especially the story "A Little Green Bottle." So there's an appeal for some, just not for me. ( )

Presents seven, easy-to-read ghost stories based on traditional folk tales and legends from various countries.