[grimoire] Seasonal reads

[Pam Gearhart]

No ghosts in Book of Lost Things -- not that I can remember anyway.  It's 
about a boy whose mom has died.  Dad has remarried and his new wife is 
expecting.  That scenario is probably more scary for a kid than most 
monsters.  The boy isn't mistreated but he's unhappy and escapes into 
another world.  It ends well.

That's funny, your daughter being leery of the toilet.  I'm not comfortable 
with strange noises either -- if it's not a critter in the walls, it's gonna 
be something expensive to fix.  Sometimes I'd rather have the critter.

I like ghost stories too.  One of my favorites is The Woman in Black by 
Susan Hill.  It's subtle but delicious.  It might even be okay for your 
daughter.

From: Robert Mingee

I have a copy of Book of Lost Things, but hadn't gotten a chance to crack it 
yet -- thanks for the tip!  I'll take a look at it.  Are the tales 
ghost-oriented?  I've always loved ghost stories, so I'd like to find some 
of those if I can, which is why I was wondering about M R James stories.  I 
also have the first 8 or so of the Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories 
series in paperback, but I'd have to dig them out, considering most of my 
paperbacks got boxed up when we repainted and recarpeted the house last 
fall.

And I definitely agree about having to find out by trial and error what 
scares kids.  My daughter watched Gremlins numerous times after we watched 
it with her once, and as I said, she likes haunted houses.  But she has this 
thing about noises.  When we were having plumbing work done last fall in 
conjunction with an addition, some air ended up in the pipes, and her toilet 
at one point sputtered during a flush.  I kid you not, she was *terrified* 
of that thing for weeks afterwards...