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Ghost
The Red Ghost
After Jenna gives her little sister an old doll dressed in red velvet as a birthday present, the occurrence of some very disturbing events make Jenna suspect the doll might be possessed.
96 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
7 people are currently reading
69 people want to read
About the author
Marion Dane Bauer
172 books186 followersMarion Dane Bauer is the author of more than one hundred books for young people, ranging from novelty and picture books through early readers, both fiction and nonfiction, books on writing, and middle-grade and young-adult novels. She has won numerous awards, including several Minnesota Book Awards, a Jane Addams Peace Association Award for RAIN OF FIRE, an American Library Association Newbery Honor Award for ON MY HONOR, a number of state children's choice awards and the Kerlan Award from the University of Minnesota for the body of her work.
She is also the editor of and a contributor to the ground-breaking collection of gay and lesbian short stories, Am I Blue? Coming Out from the Silence.
Marion was one of the founding faculty and the first Faculty Chair for the Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her writing guide, the American Library Association Notable WHAT'S YOUR STORY? A YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE TO WRITING FICTION, is used by writers of all ages. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen different languages.
She has six grandchildren and lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her partner and a cavalier King Charles spaniel, Dawn.
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INTERVIEW WITH MARION DANE BAUER
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Q. What brought you to a career as a writer?
A. I seem to have been born with my head full of stories. For almost as far back as I can remember, I used most of my unoccupied moments--even in school when I was supposed to be doing other "more important" things--to make up stories in my head. I sometimes got a notation on my report card that said, "Marion dreams." It was not a compliment. But while the stories I wove occupied my mind in a very satisfying way, they were so complex that I never thought of trying to write them down. I wouldn't have known where to begin. So though I did all kinds of writing through my teen and early adult years--letters, journals, essays, poetry--I didn't begin to gather the craft I needed to write stories until I was in my early thirties. That was also when my last excuse for not taking the time to sit down to do the writing I'd so long wanted to do started first grade.
Q. And why write for young people?
A. Because I get my creative energy in examining young lives, young issues. Most people, when they enter adulthood, leave childhood behind, by which I mean that they forget most of what they know about themselves as children. Of course, the ghosts of childhood still inhabit them, but they deal with them in other forms--problems with parental authority turn into problems with bosses, for instance--and don't keep reaching back to the original source to try to fix it, to make everything come out differently than it did the first time. Most children's writers, I suspect, are fixers. We return, again and again, usually under the cover of made-up characters, to work things through. I don't know that our childhoods are necessarily more painful than most. Every childhood has pain it, because life has pain in it at every stage. The difference is that we are compelled to keep returning to the source.
Q. You write for a wide range of ages. Do you write from a different place in writing for preschoolers than for young adolescents?
A. In a picture book or board book, I'm always writing from the womb of the family, a place that--while it might be intruded upon by fears, for instance--is still, ultimately, safe and nurturing. That's what my own early childhood was like, so it's easy for me to return to those feelings and to recreate them.
When I write for older readers, I'm writing from a very different experience. My early adolescence, especially, was a time of deep alienation, mostly from my peers but in some ways from my family as well. And so I write my older stories out of that pain, that longing for connection. A story has to have a problem at its core. No struggle
She is also the editor of and a contributor to the ground-breaking collection of gay and lesbian short stories, Am I Blue? Coming Out from the Silence.
Marion was one of the founding faculty and the first Faculty Chair for the Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her writing guide, the American Library Association Notable WHAT'S YOUR STORY? A YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE TO WRITING FICTION, is used by writers of all ages. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen different languages.
She has six grandchildren and lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her partner and a cavalier King Charles spaniel, Dawn.
-------------------------------------
INTERVIEW WITH MARION DANE BAUER
-------------------------------------
Q. What brought you to a career as a writer?
A. I seem to have been born with my head full of stories. For almost as far back as I can remember, I used most of my unoccupied moments--even in school when I was supposed to be doing other "more important" things--to make up stories in my head. I sometimes got a notation on my report card that said, "Marion dreams." It was not a compliment. But while the stories I wove occupied my mind in a very satisfying way, they were so complex that I never thought of trying to write them down. I wouldn't have known where to begin. So though I did all kinds of writing through my teen and early adult years--letters, journals, essays, poetry--I didn't begin to gather the craft I needed to write stories until I was in my early thirties. That was also when my last excuse for not taking the time to sit down to do the writing I'd so long wanted to do started first grade.
Q. And why write for young people?
A. Because I get my creative energy in examining young lives, young issues. Most people, when they enter adulthood, leave childhood behind, by which I mean that they forget most of what they know about themselves as children. Of course, the ghosts of childhood still inhabit them, but they deal with them in other forms--problems with parental authority turn into problems with bosses, for instance--and don't keep reaching back to the original source to try to fix it, to make everything come out differently than it did the first time. Most children's writers, I suspect, are fixers. We return, again and again, usually under the cover of made-up characters, to work things through. I don't know that our childhoods are necessarily more painful than most. Every childhood has pain it, because life has pain in it at every stage. The difference is that we are compelled to keep returning to the source.
Q. You write for a wide range of ages. Do you write from a different place in writing for preschoolers than for young adolescents?
A. In a picture book or board book, I'm always writing from the womb of the family, a place that--while it might be intruded upon by fears, for instance--is still, ultimately, safe and nurturing. That's what my own early childhood was like, so it's easy for me to return to those feelings and to recreate them.
When I write for older readers, I'm writing from a very different experience. My early adolescence, especially, was a time of deep alienation, mostly from my peers but in some ways from my family as well. And so I write my older stories out of that pain, that longing for connection. A story has to have a problem at its core. No struggle
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
May 1, 2025
The Red Ghost (2008) is the second of Marion Dane Bauer's four emerging reader paranormal chapter books and is in my opinion geared towards and as such also most suited for young readers (especially girls) from about the age of six to eight or nine (with the series stories titled The Blue Ghost, The Red Ghost, The Green Ghost, The Golden Ghost and with each obviously having a colour both in the title and also within the featured texts in so far that the scenarios related by Dane Bauer very specifically present spirits appearing in blue, red, green and golden hues). And because the four books are standalones, they of course also do not need to be perused in order of publication and that what Marion Dane Bauer for example relates in The Red Ghost actually has nothing to do with and has no bearing on either The Green Ghost or on The Blue Ghost and bien sûr also vice versa (but just to point out that I have not yet read The Orange Ghost although I am planning to do so).
Now with The Red Ghost Dane Bauer presents a simple and as such also more than a trifle on the surface and underdeveloped but still generally readable and sufficiently entertaining for the above mentioned six to nine year olds story of an old doll clad in a red velvet dress, bonnet and cape, how the main protagonist, how young Jenna finds her at a neighbourhood garage sale and with Miss Tate actually letting Jenna have the doll for free (as a birthday present for Jenna's younger sister Quinn). But when in The Red Ghost Jenna's affectionate and gentle cat Rocco hisses at the doll, when crying sounds and a voice asking for help repeatedly emanate from her, when Jenna's best (and usually fearless) friend Dallas actually finds the doll majorly and hugely eerily frightening, Jenna realises the red costumed toy is somehow haunted, tries to give the doll back to Miss Tate (who categorically refuses to oblige) and then gives her to Quinn for her birthday (and ahead of time), but that Jenna's sister equally refuses to take the doll, claiming that she, that the red clothed doll is already "full" (and that it actually ends up being Rocco who in The Red Ghost finally physically attacks, claws open the doll and thereby releases the red coloured ghost of Hazel, of Miss Tate's little sister who died of scarlet fever as a child and whose soul and spirit were obviously somehow imprisoned in her favourite doll for decades). And with Peter Ferguson’s sketchy black-and-white drawings for The Red Ghost providing a nice decorative trim for Marion Dane Bauer's words (but also not being either visually overwhelming or terrifying), for my eight year old inner child, for my eight year old reading self The Red Ghost (and the combination of text and images) has most definitely been a for the most part decently pleasant and as such also ofd course enjoyable experience.
However, and the above having been said, while my above mentioned inner eight year old reader has liked The Red Ghost well enough, she also finds the doll story on the one hand interestingly creepy and thankfully not overly terrifying, but on the other hand with a rather majorly and even totally lacking and even almost non-existent textually described backstory, and that the entire episode of the ghost appearing and then disappearing in a puff of reddish smoke so to speak lasts for something like one or two pages maximum is also more than a bit ridiculous (and yes, even considering Dan Bauer's intended audience), so that my general rating for The Red Ghost (both from childhood and emerging reader inner me and equally so from my older adult reading self) can thus be but three stars maximum (and that I certainly have enjoyed both The Blue Ghost and The Green Ghost considerably more than The Red Ghost).
Now with The Red Ghost Dane Bauer presents a simple and as such also more than a trifle on the surface and underdeveloped but still generally readable and sufficiently entertaining for the above mentioned six to nine year olds story of an old doll clad in a red velvet dress, bonnet and cape, how the main protagonist, how young Jenna finds her at a neighbourhood garage sale and with Miss Tate actually letting Jenna have the doll for free (as a birthday present for Jenna's younger sister Quinn). But when in The Red Ghost Jenna's affectionate and gentle cat Rocco hisses at the doll, when crying sounds and a voice asking for help repeatedly emanate from her, when Jenna's best (and usually fearless) friend Dallas actually finds the doll majorly and hugely eerily frightening, Jenna realises the red costumed toy is somehow haunted, tries to give the doll back to Miss Tate (who categorically refuses to oblige) and then gives her to Quinn for her birthday (and ahead of time), but that Jenna's sister equally refuses to take the doll, claiming that she, that the red clothed doll is already "full" (and that it actually ends up being Rocco who in The Red Ghost finally physically attacks, claws open the doll and thereby releases the red coloured ghost of Hazel, of Miss Tate's little sister who died of scarlet fever as a child and whose soul and spirit were obviously somehow imprisoned in her favourite doll for decades). And with Peter Ferguson’s sketchy black-and-white drawings for The Red Ghost providing a nice decorative trim for Marion Dane Bauer's words (but also not being either visually overwhelming or terrifying), for my eight year old inner child, for my eight year old reading self The Red Ghost (and the combination of text and images) has most definitely been a for the most part decently pleasant and as such also ofd course enjoyable experience.
However, and the above having been said, while my above mentioned inner eight year old reader has liked The Red Ghost well enough, she also finds the doll story on the one hand interestingly creepy and thankfully not overly terrifying, but on the other hand with a rather majorly and even totally lacking and even almost non-existent textually described backstory, and that the entire episode of the ghost appearing and then disappearing in a puff of reddish smoke so to speak lasts for something like one or two pages maximum is also more than a bit ridiculous (and yes, even considering Dan Bauer's intended audience), so that my general rating for The Red Ghost (both from childhood and emerging reader inner me and equally so from my older adult reading self) can thus be but three stars maximum (and that I certainly have enjoyed both The Blue Ghost and The Green Ghost considerably more than The Red Ghost).
November 26, 2021
Nicely spooky.
November 28, 2008
Jenna is sure she’s gotten a great deal when she finds the beautiful doll at her neighbor’s garage sale--a deal that gets even better when the neighbor gives it to her, free of charge. But Jenna quickly realizes there’s something strange about this doll… a weird look in its eyes, the way Jenna’s cat hates it, the rustling noise it makes in the closet. Jenna’s sister doesn’t want the doll, either, declaring it “full,” though she can’t explain what it’s full of. What kind of secrets is this doll hiding? Is it possible for a doll to be haunted?
This is the kind of story I’d have been all over when I was 7 or 8--a creepy ghost story involving sentient dolls? Sign me up! As an adult, I wanted to see more from it--the back story of who the ghost might be is dropped in as an expository chunk, and we don’t see much of the ghost. For the target audience, though, this is creepy without being terrifying.
Readers who like this and want something longer should check out Ann M. Martin’s The Doll People or Marjorie Stover’s When The Dolls Woke. Older kids who like the concept but want something much scarier can be steered toward William Sleator’s Among the Dolls or Betty Ren Wright’s The Dollhouse Murders.
This is the kind of story I’d have been all over when I was 7 or 8--a creepy ghost story involving sentient dolls? Sign me up! As an adult, I wanted to see more from it--the back story of who the ghost might be is dropped in as an expository chunk, and we don’t see much of the ghost. For the target audience, though, this is creepy without being terrifying.
Readers who like this and want something longer should check out Ann M. Martin’s The Doll People or Marjorie Stover’s When The Dolls Woke. Older kids who like the concept but want something much scarier can be steered toward William Sleator’s Among the Dolls or Betty Ren Wright’s The Dollhouse Murders.
October 11, 2016
Check out my other reviews, discussions and link ups at Fantasy of the Silver Dragon.
Technically a series, but each book deals with different characters and different ghosts. This was actually creepier than I had expected for a kids book. Not too much so, but the creepiness factor was definitely there. It probably doesn't help that I have a porcelain doll that has an outfit very similar to the one in this book!
I liked how the kids discovered there was something not quite right about the doll. And how each of them had a slightly different experience, even if the voice was eventually a shared one. We do get to find out who was possessing the doll, but not the how.
I liked that the ghost didn't want to hurt the kids, and the illustrations helped to set the mood. If you're looking for a good ghost story to read during October, that isn't too scary but also isn't fluffy, you should try this one.
This review was originally posted on Fantasy of the Silver Dragon
Technically a series, but each book deals with different characters and different ghosts. This was actually creepier than I had expected for a kids book. Not too much so, but the creepiness factor was definitely there. It probably doesn't help that I have a porcelain doll that has an outfit very similar to the one in this book!
I liked how the kids discovered there was something not quite right about the doll. And how each of them had a slightly different experience, even if the voice was eventually a shared one. We do get to find out who was possessing the doll, but not the how.
I liked that the ghost didn't want to hurt the kids, and the illustrations helped to set the mood. If you're looking for a good ghost story to read during October, that isn't too scary but also isn't fluffy, you should try this one.
This review was originally posted on Fantasy of the Silver Dragon
April 10, 2015
Jenna sees an antique doll at a neighbour's garage sale and thinks it might be just the thing for her five-year-old sister's fifth birthday. Miss Tate is only too unhappy to unload this old toy, saying it belonged to her sister who died of scarlet fever. When Jenna takes the doll home, though, her cat Rocco, normally a gentle creature, hisses and spits in its presence, and when her sister receives it, she claims that it is not empty but full. The malevolent force that the doll contains and how that force is expelled forms the last part of this beginning chapter book.
Dane Bauer does a great job creating a spooky, but not too spooky, beginning chapter book for girls in grades 2 to 4.
Dane Bauer does a great job creating a spooky, but not too spooky, beginning chapter book for girls in grades 2 to 4.
January 15, 2009
I picked this up for a quick read and did not expect much. But I thoroughly enjoyed this slightly creepy read for kids just moving into the chapter book. A creepy doll and a strange neighbor who wants nothing to do with it. I won't tell you what happens but I am going to have trouble looking at all of my old dolls. Grades 3+
November 21, 2018
My six year old son is really into anything "scary". He picked this book out at our local library because it was about a ghost. We read finished the book after a couple of bedtime readings. I understand that the book is about a ghost, but the characters all acted like that's just a normal thing and carried on with their lives in the end. Even my son made a comment about how it was weird. Ha ha. Nonetheless, an easy to read safe, "scary" book.
April 24, 2019
My younger self would have adored this creepy tale! I can't believe I never encountered it before now.
September 2, 2021
I loved these ghost books as a kid and they still hold up super well. If you know a kid into ghosts this is a really good book for them!
February 5, 2022
An easy reading short childrens chapter book for middle grades about a "possessed" doll.
July 2, 2022
A pretty frightening read for children. If I was 9-12 when I read it I’d be looking at dolls and stuffed animals with whole new eyes. This was very creepy right through the ending.
July 10, 2022
3.5 stars.
This was a good juvenile book. I could see kids getting spooked by it.
This was a good juvenile book. I could see kids getting spooked by it.
March 18, 2012
This is one of four colorful Ghost stories written by Marion Dane Bauer. We recently read The Green Ghost and our oldest really liked it, so we put the other three books on hold and read them all quickly in succession.
This story was creepy in a Poltergeist or Chucky: Volume 1 kind of way, but written for younger children who haven't broken into the scary stories by R.L. Stine yet. It certainly was not our favorite of the series, but was interesting in an eerie way.
Overall we liked this story and we were happy to find these books. Our oldest will be thrilled if the author continues the series...
This story was creepy in a Poltergeist or Chucky: Volume 1 kind of way, but written for younger children who haven't broken into the scary stories by R.L. Stine yet. It certainly was not our favorite of the series, but was interesting in an eerie way.
Overall we liked this story and we were happy to find these books. Our oldest will be thrilled if the author continues the series...
February 13, 2024
Jenna sees a beautiful, old doll dressed in a red velvet coat and bonnet at Mrs. Tate's yard sale. It would be perfect for her sister Quinn's birthday. When Jenna asks how much the doll cost, her neighbor gives her the doll and seems quite relieved to be rid of it. Many disturbing events happen after Jenna and her friend, Dallas, wrap the doll. Jenna's cat Rocco hisses and spits at the wrapped package. During the night, Jenna hears paper rustling in her closet where she hid the doll. Then, Quinn refuses to take it saying that the doll is already "full." An accident involving the doll reveals the truth of Quinn's statement.
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com
May 29, 2008
As one of the librarians in charge of summer reading at my branch, I recently visited schools in the area to promote books and reading. I used this book in a booktalk. I made it sound really scary and left the kids wanting to read it just to find out what happened. The thing is, I hadn't read it - til now. It may not scare kids of today who are used to watching the goriest of movies, but I thought it had a fair amount of mystery -- just enough for me to read to the end to find out what was so wrong with the doll that even the cat couldn't stand to be in the same room with it.
July 20, 2008
Looking for a birthday present for her little sister, Jenna stops by a neighbor's garage sale and spots an antique doll with a red velvet dress and matching bonnet. When Jenna inquires about the doll, the neighbor lady simply gives it to her and tells her that is once belonged to her little sister, who died of the scarlet fever long ago.
Not too creepy, but sufficiently spooky, I think my favorite part are the drawings by the same illustrator who does "The Sisters Grimm" series.
Not too creepy, but sufficiently spooky, I think my favorite part are the drawings by the same illustrator who does "The Sisters Grimm" series.
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May 5, 2011I think this book so far is begenig to be a mystery but when jenna here's those mysterouce nioces like Dallas did some thing suspissouse is going on , when they gave the doll back to Quenn she just said NO because it's full and I want a doll that's empty and they had know idea what she was talking about.They tryed to give back the doll but it's to late even though she gave them the doll for free for Quenn's B-day.I guess I'll just have to keep on reading to find out more.
March 12, 2013
Well, I am an adult reading a Stepping Stones Chapter Book, so my opinion is an adult one. I may have enjoyed this much more if I were a child. I actually planned to give it to my granddaughter who is 6 but I'll probably hold off for a year or so.
Jenna finds a perfect gift for her little sister who loves dolls. The neighbor is throwing away an antique doll so Jenna brings it home. Yes, the doll is creepy but as far as ghost stories go- I've read scarier. I don't think the story meshed well.
Jenna finds a perfect gift for her little sister who loves dolls. The neighbor is throwing away an antique doll so Jenna brings it home. Yes, the doll is creepy but as far as ghost stories go- I've read scarier. I don't think the story meshed well.
April 26, 2008
Much better example of decent writing/age-appropriate content for young chapter book audience. Jenna picks up old-fashioned doll for her younger sis's b'day, but starts to realize there's something wrong with the doll when she brings it home. Gentle ghost story that's just spooky enough. Illustrations by same guy who does Sisters Grimm.
August 4, 2015
This is a great choice for kids who have outgrown the Branches chapter books (Notebook of Doom, etc.) but aren't yet ready for Alvin Schwartz or Mary Downing Hahn. There's a real ghost, so it's spooky, but not truly threatening - all the ghost wants it to be at peace, and doesn't really bear malice toward the kids in the story.
July 11, 2008
3rd/4th grade book, scary ghost story about a doll that isn't just a doll
July 26, 2008
good, suspenseful read for those making the transition from easy readers to longer chapter books. Manages to be spine-tingly creepy without being too scary. I love Peter Ferguson's illustrations.
October 1, 2008
Good book for s kid who wants a slightly scary and highly accessible read. Lots of pictures and easy to read words. Definitely a Stepping Stone title.
October 13, 2008
Scary but not too scary. The perfect amount of suspense. This one will be great to book talk.
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October 25, 2008TRANSITIONAL READER, NOT TOO SCARY
BLUE GHOST ALSO
BLUE GHOST ALSO
February 5, 2009
A good ghost story for beginning readers. As I was reading the end I was all "Oh I saw that coming a mile away" And then I was all "Oh wait! This is a book for little kids! Silly stef!"
July 27, 2010
I would have enjoyed it more when I was little. It reminded me of a much better written "Are you afraid of the dark?" episode. Pleasantly spooky and wonderfully written.
April 14, 2015
It's creepy when the ghost comes out of the crack in the doll's head!
February 28, 2012
The book definitely does not disappoint regarding the ghost story aspect and is appropriate for those who would be reading a transitional chapter book as the ghost is not malevolent.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews