Ghost Fever: Mal de Fantasma [Spanish]

Ghost Fever won the Texas Bluebonnet Award for 2007, joining previous Bluebonnet ghost stories winners. including The Ghost of Fossil Glen in 2000, Time For Andrew: A Ghost Story in 1996, Wait 'Til Helen Comes in 1989 and Christina's Ghost in 1988. Joe Hayes is a professional storyteller known for his Southwestern stories. This 87 page book is the kind of chapter book I love because young readers, still gaining fluency, can move through the story quickly and feel successful that they have mastered "a chapter book." It certainly qualifies as the kind of "scary" book young readers seek. Cole Cash rents houses in Duston, Arizona on the wrong side of the tracks. No matter what he does though, he cannot rent one abandoned house to anyone. In desperation he offers 6 months free rent to whoever will sign a one year lease. Rumors of ghosts keep the house empty until Elena's father hears about it. Newly unemployed with two young daughters, Frank Padilla decides to move his family in despite warnings and advice from family and friends. Luckily, Abuelita knows a thing or two about the spirit world so she takes fourteen year old Elena aside to warn her about ghosts. She instructs Elena on how to talk to a spirit and warns her that she may be the only one who can hear or see it. Mona Pennypacker did the soft pencil illustrations which nicely evoke the apparition on pages 43 and the very creepy on page 63. I know these 2 pictures elicited the "oooooohs" when I introduced the Bluebonnet list last fall.

Ghost Fever Mal de Fantasma by Joe Hayes is a spin-tingler that would be great for reluctant readers, especially those who are trying to learn English or Spanish. It is written in a bilingual style, small sections written in English and then the Spanish version mirrored right after it. The story's setting is a southwestern town in the 1950's where a haunted house keeps tenants leery of renting it. The house's reputation is so bad the owner has to give away free rent just to find tenants. Finally a father (Frank) and his daughter (Elena) move in. The father seems nonplused with the noises and strange occurrences, but his daughter is not so oblivious. She feels a connection with the ghost because the ghost-girl is her age, and mysteriously died falling off the roof of the house. Elana tries to help the ghost, but ends up dealing with problems of her own. Students in middle school and high school would enjoy this book, especially those who love a good ghost story. Its bilingual style makes an inviting read for students who are struggling to learn a second language.