Ghosters by Diana Corbitt

   

Ghosters by Diana Corbitt

Bedazzled Ink Publishing

May 1, 2017

 About the Author Diana Corbitt is a retired elementary school teacher living in northern California. Her work has appeared in Bewildering Stories and Encounters Magazine. She had a podcast on Manor House and one of her short stories was anthologized in Wax and Wane: A Gathering of Witch Tales. 

Quick intro summary 

At the introduction of Ghosters, we meet 12-year-old Theresa Martinez, her 9-year-old little brother Joey, and her father who have moved into her maternal grandparent's empty one-hundred-year-old home in Fern Creek, CA after her mother dies. An old lady at the grocery store tells them that their house is haunted.  Theresa's family laughs about it on their way home. I mean, there isn't any such things as ghosts, right??? Her father,  writer's blocked author, and her brother who has Autism get along much better than her father and she does, or is she not dreaming that he is playing favorites? These are questions that need to be answered and she's not sure how to go about solving them. Theresa's first day at her new school- Sierra Middle School she can't find a spot to sit during lunch. She decides to go visit the school library. While there she decides to start looking into the ghost stories. There she meets an extremely tall girl, Kerry Addison who is actually in her literature class and is new to Fern Creek also. This might be the start of a beautiful friendship, or will it?? Little does Theresa know that the questions she has are not the right ones to be asking. Secrets come out, memories change, and people in the house will be challenged with their beliefs. 

My feelings about Ghosters 

 Ghosters is a fun Middle-Grade read. Or, should I say, man, what a SCARY, fun Middle-Grade book! Do not, I repeat do not, read this when you are trying to go to bed. At one point in time, I seriously thought I could hear squeaking wheels rolling around on my living room floor. Read the book, you will get what I am talking about. 

Ghosters is the type of paranormal story that is appropriate for all ages even though it is written for middle-grade readers. This is the first book that I have read where a child with a disability--  Joey, is actually written without some lecture, some overly drawn-out explanation of his disability, or seems unreal- almost one dimensional. Joey is very real, Joey enriches Ghosters so much that I might have to say he might be my favorite character in the whole book! That is saying something as there are so many richly written characters in Ghosters. 

While reading Ghosters there were so many times that it created a good goose-bumping shiver. So much so that I would have to go outside and make sure I myself wasn't wandering the "Ramos Mansion".  Now mind you, I read Cujo by Stephen King as a 12-year-old kid, I love scary stories especially when they seem that they could really happen. Ghosters is not too scary for your middle grader, it's just in my old age I absorb the scary more than I used to mainly because I am reading at home alone. Yeah, home alone reading is not always a good thing when you are reading a Paranormal Book unless that book is poorly written, which this book is not. It is fantastic! 

If you like this book, there are two other Ghoster stories: Revenge of the Library Ghost & Secrets of the Bloody Tower which I look forward to picking up soon. 

While visiting the Author's website I was pleasantly surprised to find AR questions for the first two Ghoster stories. I enjoy it when a retired teacher still uses educational practices when they interact with children. This is the first time I have seen where already provided questions are given without the book being a hit on the Times Best Seller List. Sometimes books have to have questions written and approved to get them to be considered for the AR program. 

Now, don't get me wrong, I think this book should be a hit! I'm not sure why I hadn't heard of it before Ms. Corbitt asked me if I would read it. 

I know that if I was still working at our local library or TA'ing at our intermediate school I would be recommending this book to all those kids who LOVE scary stories. Especially, Espie, the little 9-year-old girl who always came in asking for scary stories that didn't involve cheesy talking animals or Goosebump-- type storylines. She told me once she hated the books that were "written down" by an author who thought a kid couldn't like a super scary book that only a little bit of scare was too scary. Espie loved Dracula, Stephen King's books, and yet they weren't age-appropriate for her according to her parents. This book without hesitation would be my next book to recommend for her to read!

 

rated for paranormal activity, writing style, and just pure fun.

 Thank you, Diana Corbitt, for allowing me to read Ghosters in lieu of my honest review!