Ghosts Who Went to School

The Templeton Ghosts #1

by Judith Spearing

The two ghost boys, Wilbur and Mortimer become bored with no-one to haunt, and so they decide to go to school. Pandemonium reigns in Wilbur's class for the first few days, but he eventually makes himself visible and becomes an accepted member of the class.

Genres: Fiction, Childrens, Ghosts, Middle Grade, Fantasy, Paranormal, Halloween

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love old books. Any sort. And there are few places better to troll for great old books than thriftshops. A couple times a month I set out with $5 or so in my pocket to visit all the local thriftshops looking for interesting books. Some of my best finds are old, often out of print, middle grade books...the type I used to beg my parents to buy for me from those book order forms in elementary school. I am in total nostalgic bliss when I find a bunch of old Scholastic books. I bring them home and read them, then donate the books to my local library. They resell them at their book sales I'm sure....then someone else gets to enjoy them! The library makes money to buy new books and someone else gets to enjoy a great kid's book! Win-win!

My latest find is a Scholastic book, Ghosts Who Went to School, first printed in 1966, with a reprint in 1989. I checked and although the book is currently out of print, it is readily available to purchase online. I found prices ranging from 33 cents plus postage to $5.49 with free shipping. So, not expensive. My copy was well loved with three children's names scrawled on the inside of the front cover, dutifully crossed out when the book passed to a new owner. I hope they all enjoyed the story as much as I did!

Ghosts Who Went to School was written by Judith Spearing. The book has a follow up, The Museum House Ghosts. The Author just passed away in January 2017 and is fondly remembered for her two children's books.

The basics: Wilbur and Mortimer Temple are ghosts. They live in the old Temple House, the abandoned old house that everyone says is haunted (because it is!). Their mother and father live there too...a happy, ghost family. But, the boys are bored. Haunting the same house day after day can get a little tiresoome. They decide to go to school. Wilber joins Mrs. Hartley's third grade class. While he means well, having an invisible student in class can be disruptive. When Mrs. Hartley grades Wilbur's first spelling test she finds his spelling is atrocious so she knows even ghost boys need to be in school. They reach an agreement. Wilbur must be visible for roll call and while he is answering questions in class,but he can be invisible the rest of the time as long as it isn't disruptive to the other students. So Wilbur and Mortimer blend right in, despite the fact that they're ghosts. Can they also solve the problem of the local bank that wants to sell their house?

The story is well-written and incredibly cute. Wilbur's classmates accept him and like having him as part of their class. Mortimer enjoys school as well. They get into a bit of trouble, but never for being mean-spirited. They help non-athletic kids make points in basketball, assist classmates with math and do a bit of invisible gardening to scare bankers. Nothing mean or destructive. It's just a happy, age appropriate story. This would be a great book for kids in 2nd to 5th grade. Lots of humor and great lessons! The book has cute illustrations as well.

This is a book I think Scholastic should reprint again. Kids at my son's elementary would love this story! Now that I've reviewed it, my copy is going to our local library. I hope that soon it has a 4th name scrawled on the inside of the front cover and gets many more readings before it wears out! It definitely gave me a couple hours of joy. There's nothing like a happy, entertaining children's book! A fun, happy read!!

I'm now on the look-out for the second book -- The Museum House Ghosts. I want to read about the other adventures of Wilbur and Mortimer!

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is very entertaining and wonderful for children from grades third to fifth. The ghost Wilbur attends school and all kinds of interesting things happen!

I own the original version published in 1966. I bought the book because I thought the story would be fun to read. The catch? I lived in Puerto Rico and my English skills were very, very limited. :-) So, I actually didn't read the book until years later after I had moved to the United States.

I am a collector of children's books.

[Claire Botman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books from my own childhood (it was published in 1966!) and I remember being quite touched by Wilbur and his adventures, but my kids were not interested at all, I think too many other wonderful books to compete with. Off to the new school library because I don't want to forget it.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of my favorite books growing up and also was one of my Mom's favorite books growing up. I read this book so many times cause it was just so imaginative, playful, and laugh out loud funny. Mortimer and Wilbur try so hard to fit in at their school and yet time and time again they cause scenes. I'm an author now, but this book inspired me at a young age to start writing paranormal.

[Karin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. A story about a family of ghosts. The younger of the 2 sons is bored at home and so goes with his older brother to school one day. He has to learn to make himself visable and stay that way so teachers will see him. He goes to gr. 3 and has fun adventures with the kids. Not scary at all.

I can't believe i never added this book in yet.

[Becky H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun book to read to your children!
One of my husband's favorite books from his childhood. He read it out loud to our children and I was very surprised at how much they loved it. They could follow the storyline and even tell me what I had missed on the evenings that I worked late.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won't talk about the plot of this book because other people have done so also I don't want to ruin the suspense for people who have not read it.

I will just say that I first read this book when I was about 10 years old and I really enjoyed it. Just very funny and very cute.

[Martine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book as an adult. Reading it was a part of an attempt to read the books on my childhood bookshelf that I never got around to reading. The adult in me calls this "twaddle" and would not encourage my own children to read it in the least. The teacher in me would say the same thing. There is far better childhood literature out there.

I'm trying to think of what I would have said if I had read it as a child. I believe she would say that it was written well and easy to follow. It would have kept her attention. What she wouldn't have had words to say, but would have felt, is that the book doesn't have a well-developed enough plot for her to consider hanging on to it and rereading it as she would childhood favorites.

Nevertheless, keep in mind I write this from an adult perspective. If your child likes friendly ghost stories and can easily suspend their disbelief, then give it a go. It'll be a quick read for your average to above-average reader.

[Jonathan Schildbach · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a different version than the one pictured here. The one I read has the original artwork by Marvin Glass, which are basically fun, cartoonish scribbled illustrations. I never read this before, even though it was in my mother's house as long as I can remember. I think when I was really young, I thought it was too long, and then when I was old enough to read it, I wanted my ghost stories to be scary. At any rate, it starts off as something of a one-note joke about a ghost family, with the two young brothers making mischief by doing things like picking on bullies while they are invisible. They eventually decide to go to school, and after some initial mayhem, settle into the school community as best they can, and make friends and help out a lot. Much more engaging than I really expected it to be, and quite a lot of fun.

[Joe Blacksilver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a comical, fun and heartwarming story. It's a series of short stories that progresses towards the end of the school year. There's no singular major story arc with a big climax. Each chapter is like a episode. Each episode remembers what happened in previous episodes. Character development was mild. People in the know get used to having a ghost around and grew to love them. And the ghosts grew attached to their living friends. Sweet and simple. The lore created about how ghosts "work" in this world was interesting and was used in both drama and humour. It was a pleasant, humorous, feel-good read.

[Rebecca I · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another book read with my grandson. It was chosen because we like scary stories, but isn't really very scary. It is more comical and playful. It is more of a - "what if" kind of story. As in What if you had two ghosts that were your age who came to school? Each chapter is like a little scenario of what would happen. It explores the reasons people are scared, the feelings of children and adults, motives for proper and improper behavior. It helps children think about things like being good in one subject and not in another, helping each other, understanding what school is about. We both found it very enjoyable.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a favorite of mine when I was a kid, about a ghost family with two young boys. The boys decide to go to school. There is some suspense: what will the other children do? What will the teacher do? It's still a cute story, with some dated ideas.

My adult perspective makes me a little sad, though. These characters are ghosts because they are dead. Also, Wilbur and Mortimer have been young boy ghosts for a long time. The new friends they make at school will soon grow up, but the ghosts will not. These things are not pointed out in the book, and went over my head when I was a child reading it.

[Xyra · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED this book! It was amusing, had good characters and action, overall super fun.

The Temple family kept their house nice and everyone still knew it was haunted. The boys got bored so they went to school. Oh, the fun they had there.

This story is basically timeless. The ghosts have witnessed their town grow over the years and know everyone. They even set a few things straight with the town's history.

This is book one in a series and I may have to search for more.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Rating System:
* not worth finishing, ** wouldn’t recommend, *** would recommend, **** would highly recommend, ***** have/would read again.

And as I’m fond of saying:
“Even better than giving a book to a child to read; read it with them, aloud. After all it’s never to early to help a child discover the love of reading and the power of a good story.”

[Dyllen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a good book for children, because the plot of it is set out so well, it kind of makes you feel like a kid again when you reread to yourself. I thought of this book suddenly today and found a copy of it on eBay so can't wait for its arrival. Yes, this book should be passed onto today's generation for a real good, friendly ghost read!

[Elisabeth Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I own this in paperback - published 1966.
It's a beautiful story that I read when I was much younger.
It's sweet but I notice that I feel sadder when I read it these days.
It has ghosts
To get ghosts people need to be not alive.
but it's truly a sweet story that will always hold a special place in my heart.

[Madame Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amusing story of the Temple ghost family. Brothers Mortimer and Wilbur go to school, while their parents try to find a way to keep their house safe from the bank. They don't write lighthearted and interesting stories like these any more.

[Jana Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book I loved in 2nd or 3rd grade; very fondly remembered.

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as a 3rd grade student 50 years ago!! It was so good. I remember staying up late to finish chapters.
So glad to see it is still offered!!

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read/reread this book from one of my boxes of books I had growing up.
A slightly different take on ghosts.

[Renee' LaViness · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book more than once as a child. i loved it, every time. By today's standards, there are things I would change, but it's still a cute book and stirs wonderful memories.

[Kathleen Brandt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book when it first came out in 1966 and have readit several times. I just ran across it again and loved it as much now as I did then!!!

[LuAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, uplifting story that is told from an unusual perspective that avoids the usual tropes—which leads to all the adventures.

[Rebecca]

Another old scholastic visit to the past - when kids books were full of innocent mischief. Actually so adorable that I taped the pages that fluttered out back in rather than recycling it.

[Amy M · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Swankivy · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I read this as a child and enjoyed the sort of Casper the Friendly Ghost feeling it had. There was really no spookiness or anything except that Wilbur and his brother Mortimer happen to be ghosts and they decide they should go to school instead of just haunting their house with their ghost mom and ghost dad. Wilbur can make himself visible if he wants to, but it's something of a strain, so having to think about that and about being "normal" is very difficult and it's not long before his secret is discovered. Imagine how cool it is when the class is accepting of their new ghost student! Besides that, the ghost brothers have to deal with being from an earlier generation and trying to learn about how to be friends with today's kids.

Most of the story is just fun little vignettes about being a ghost and having sort of a supernatural version of the outsider experience, and starting a new chapter was more like reading a new short story than continuing a cohesive story, but there were some common threads and I think I remember Wilbur having to pretend to be a living child for a while for the benefit of a substitute teacher or something. The episodic feel is good for kids who have recently made it into chapter books and aren't likely to read it all in one sitting.

[Julie Decker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mortimer and Wilbur are ghost children who decide it would be better for them to go to school instead of just haunting the old house with ghost Mom and ghost Dad. Wilbur pretends to be a living child--he can make himself visible if he concentrates--but his secret is soon found out. Happily, the class does not reject him, and he goes on to pursue his education in the afterlife. The book follows the stories of the siblings trying to have an everyday experience despite being ghosts from an earlier generation, and even though there are some spooky pranks and some hangups, these kids get to learn a lot about life in spite of being dead.

The chapters are short and somewhat independent of each other--great for children who won't read it in one sitting--and the ghost children's quest for acceptance is authentically rendered and enjoyable.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I adored this book as a kid. I don't even know how I came to own a tattered copy from the '60s, but I read and reread it. I think I liked the anachronistic way the ghost family lived compared to the "modern" world around them.

[R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Saw this on the shelf at the Friends of the Library book sale room - smiled in acknowledgement of childhood reading and then thought: But it couldn't have been that good if it took me 25+ years and serendipitous shelving in order for me to recall its existence.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun story about a family of ghosts where the two ghost children are bored so they are allowed to go to school if they avoid standing out. When I read it aloud to my two youngest siblings, they didn't want me to stop when I was going hoarse.