My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/-RdIj3LIUo4

Enjoy! ( )

Loved this. My favorite stormy-night-and-a-fire book. Always thought it was funny how they made pizza in this book, putting the cheese on last. ( )

Some books from your childhood stand up years later...and some don't. Six-year-old me still loves it, and the idea of ghosts haunting the ground beneath you is still spooky, but this is not by any stretch of the imagination a great book.

Katie, her stepbrother, and her mother spend the summer in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, taking care of her mother's Uncle Frank after Katie's stepfather dies. The town of Newquay is practically a ghost town--in more ways than one. Katie sees a ghost girl who seems to be begging her for help, and minor earthquakes shake the ground as the town approaches the 30th anniversary of a terrible mining disaster. Katie knows that disaster is about to strike again--but how can she convince anyone to listen to her?

The writing is pretty good--very vivid and engaging. But the book feels intensely dated, like it's even older than its 1984 pub date. Maybe it's the subplot with the no-good greaser boy and his motorcycle; maybe it's the fact that even TV is barely mentioned. (I don't know if the 90s reissue was edited at all, besides the cover update.)

Side note: As a child, I'd hoped that motorcycle-boy was going to reform himself and be Katie's boyfriend, but on reflection, her brother is the one who reads as interested in him... ( )

Back in the day, Betty Ren Wright was right up there with R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike for YA mysteries. I'd never read any of her books though, I'm not sure why, but when I saw this one in my local thrift store for $0.59, I picked it up.

For as short as it is, and as big as the font is, it took me forever to read it. Not that this was a bad book, but rather that there was a lot of stuff that didn't really serve any purpose other than to provide length. The one guy has a motorcycle and a bad reputation but nothing ever comes of it and the step-brother is angry and resentful and then all of a sudden he's just not anymore, etc.

I know this is a children's book, but it just seemed all over the place, and nothing really came together or worked for me. Meh. 2 stars. It was OK. ( )

One of my favorites from when I was a kid. I recommend it for young readers looking for a good ghost story, but it's also an appealing story about a girl struggling with a hard time in her life. ( )