Dial-a-Ghost

I've been making my way though a fairly long list of recommended books by my librarian friend, and a few years ago, one of said books was a funny little fantasy fairy tale called "Which Witch". After greatly enjoying it, I decided to look up the author's other works, and found a whole slew of similar spooky tales for younger readers. The premise of this one sounded especially unique and original, and in the end, my shot in the dark paid off.The world of this book is much like our own, save for the fact that not only are ghosts real, but it's commonplace for people to see them haunting places. Enter two kindly witches who start up the booming business of "Dial A Ghost"---an agency that seeks to aid wandering spirits and help them find permanent homes to safely haunt. Meanwhile, after spending most of his life in an orphanage, a young boy named Oliver discovers he's to inherit an old, spooky mansion. But his scheming older cousins, who seek to claim the family fortune for themselves, plot to get Oliver out of the picture while trying to make it look like an accident. So they call upon the "Dial A Ghost" services to hire a gang of scary spirits to scare Oliver out of the mansion. But due to a mix up at the office, Oliver is greeted instead by the nicest family of ghosts one could ever meet. And when the evil cousins discover the mistake and their plots take a deadly turn, it's up to Oliver and his unlikely band of undead friends to defend their new home and become the loving family they all not only wanted, but needed.This story is definitely for someone with more macabre tastes (and at times, the writing gave me an "Addams Family" vibe). But all the characters are either likeable or memorable--even the ones with small parts brim with personality. Oliver is extremely fun to get to know, and despite being an orphan, he's very open minded and outgoing, and likes living at the orphanage with all his friends. So at first, he's very sad and scared to have to move away to live in a huge, creepy mansion. But once his new family of ghosts comes into the picture, he quickly turns lemons into lemonade, and by story's end, he's gone from a semi-shy and quiet kid, to a bold leader who will do anything to protect what he loves. And as for the titular ghosts, we get two very different families of them. There's the kind and loving Wilkinsons, and the deplorable, horrifying Shriekers. Each clan has a host of wildly varying personalities in them, and though they're polar opposites, both sets of spooks have to learn to put aside their differences, especially when a startling connection is found between them. As for Oliver's mean cousins, they're pretty much pure evil for the sake of being evil, and the fates they meet in the end are more than satisfying.And the world that's set up here is most definitely a cartoonish fantasy. In a vein similar to Lemony Snicket, no explanation is given for why this world is the way it is--you just accept it as fact. Realism is mixed in with characters (mostly the villains) that are cartoonishly over the top in personality. However, considering this book was written many years ago, there's more than a few words that either aren't used now a days, or they have completely different meanings, so parents should either screen this ahead of time before giving this to their kids, or alter a few of the words as they read it. (Although, considering some of the creepy imagery, especially towards the last third of the book, I'd recommend this for older kids to begin with.) Not to mention that American readers might be put off at some of the pure British jargon.Although on the macabre side, this is both a funny and enlightening tale about fighting for what you love and having your friends (no matter where they come from) become your family. And though I thought "Which Witch" was a bit better, this similar dip into the bizarre was just as enjoyable. A great book to read around Halloween.

The book is a really enjoyable read. Its one of those books which you wish went longer. The only thing I didn't like was that you don't really think about it once its done. In other words, I am thought there wasn't anything that you can take back from the book. But all books don't need to be like that, so its not such a big deal

It is a fun book. Very morbid, and I don't like hearing about children and animals suffering, but it had a good ending.

Our elementary students are enjoying the book.

this book is 'bout a boy named oliver that is an orphan and in the middle of da book he finds out he has ghost trying 2 kill him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The book is in good condition and I can not wait to read it.

Eva Ibbotson is one of my favorite authors, and out of all of them this is one of my favorites. I had laughs, gasps, and wide eyes of surprise on my face while I was reading it. I thought the concepts were neet. The family is bombed and they all die, but one of them doesn't become a ghost. Some people can see ghosts and some can't. The personality of the person continues in the ghost. All of these and more are in the book. Out of all of it, the ending was the best part. Like in most of Ibbotson's books, she wraps the story up and ends all the questions and cliff hangers. It was written in a very true reolistic way, even though some things aren't proven to be true. That's another thing I liked about it. The reason I give it four stars, not five, is because the twists are very good at the end, but in a few places the story gets a little boring in the middle of a chapter. Even so, this is one of her best books. I would reccomend all of her books to you if you liked this one, especially 'Which Which' and 'The Great Ghost Rescue.'

Oliver knew they were coming after him, he just didn't know when. They, of course, being the ghosts. His older cousin Fulton had told him all about them. They were bloodstained, headless, screaming, wailing horrible things. Not all ghosts are horrible though, and when he meets the Wilkinson family, his perspective changes. Oliver was a kind boy. He was an orphan though. He was always very outgoing, so he made a lot of friends at the Home. He lived happily there, until one day when he was whisked off to an enormous thirty-room mansion named Helton Hall. He had inherited the Snoode-Brittle fortune because all of his relatives had died. His cousin Fulton was next in line to inherit the money, so Fulton began plotting against Oliver.Fulton made his way to the adoption center, called Adopt-A-Ghost, because he was planning to scare Oliver to death. He wanted the meanest, slimiest, biggest, scariest ghosts to haunt the mansion imaginable. Now the Adopt-A-Ghost agency had a big problem. They had the meanest, slimiest, biggest, scariest ghosts that they had to find a home for. The Shriekers. Time was running out, and if they didn't hurry up, the ghosts would get impatient and eat them alive! It was a miracle from heaven to the ladies running the agency when Fulton Snoode-Brittle walked in the door and offered to give the Shriekers a home. There was only one problem left that the ladies were unaware of. Their delivery boy was colorblind. He wasn't an extreme case, but he couldn't tell red and green apart, so he accidentally gave the Wilkinson's the directions to the Helton Hall Mansion, and the Shreikers, the directions to a nun's sanctuary where the Wilkinson's were supposed to live. When the Wilkinson's finally got to Helton Hall, they met a young boy named Oliver. Oliver wasn't scared the least bit, although he had been dreading meeting the ghosts, because he assumed they were there to kill him. Rumor got to Fulton that after Fulton left some three days before to flee from the ghosts, that Oliver went mad and drowned himself in the lake behind Helton Hall. Fulton was overjoyed! The inheritance was his! When he made his way to the house though, cautious of the ghosts, the Wilkinson's teamed up with Oliver and turned Fulton out of the house. They wrote a letter to Oliver's guardian, explaining what had happened. He showed up a week later, and together they turned half of the mansion into a sanctuary for ghosts and the other half into a home for all of Oliver's orphaned friends. He lived happily from then on.

Great story! I read the whole unputdownable book. No doubt, my nieces and nephews will love the book. I am going to get another book by same author, Eva Ibbotson. She is truly a gifted storyteller.

Interesting story with the right amount of scary stuff mixed in. Got it for my 8 yr old as she reads constantly. And I read it myself too!

What's not to like? It's Eva Ibbotson and the story is original and wonderfully written. My 8 year old loves it.

Really enjoyed by my daughter.

yet another beautifully written children's book from one of the best children's authors around. reading to my son is no longer a bit of chore since we discovered Ibbotson