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The Ghost Next Door
Sherry Alston had never been told about her dead half-sister Miranda. So when Sherry came to visit her Aunt Judith, no one could explain the odd things that started to happen. Who was the elusive friend Sherry said she saw in the garden? Was she an imaginary playmate - or could she be the ghost of Miranda who had drowned in the pond years ago? Uncanny reminders of Miranda began to turn up - a blue rose, a lost riding whip...
Lindsey and Tammy, who lived next door, decided to delve into the meaning of the apparent psychic phenomena. They soon found themselves drawn deeper and deeper into an intriguing mystery.
Lindsey and Tammy, who lived next door, decided to delve into the meaning of the apparent psychic phenomena. They soon found themselves drawn deeper and deeper into an intriguing mystery.
152 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
35 people are currently reading
1717 people want to read
About the author
Wylly Folk St. John
17 books38 followersWylly Folk St. John was a popular and successful author of children's mystery books and an Atlanta journalist whose work was much admired across America in the mid 20th century.
She was born in 1908 in Bamberg County, SC. She loved to read and maintained an interest in reading and writing from an early age; she even published a poem at the age of 9. She grew up in Savannah where her family had moved and was graduated from Savannah High School. She received a A.B. in Journalism at the University of Georgia in 1930.
She was hired for the staff of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution Sunday magazine in 1941 and remained there until 1954 when she joined her husband, an Army officer who was stationed at a hospital in Germany. When they returned home, she resumed working for the newspaper and began freelancing stories.
Redbook magazine published several of her book-length novels, which focused on mysteries but with a wide range of appealing young characters whose adventures were sometimes "torrid," in one coleague's words. When it came to writing children's stories, she said in 1966, "You have to be careful about what expressions might offend parents, teachers and librarians." But she nonetheless took pleasure in surprising her reading with some unexpected words.
Her mystery novels for young readers included "The Ghost Next Door," "Uncle Robert's Secret," "The Secret of the Seven Crows," "The Mystery of the Other Girl," "Christmas Tree Mystery," "The Mystery of the Mystery Book," "The Mystery of the Gingerbread House," "The Secret of Hidden Creek" and "The Secrets of the Pirate Inn," the latter of which was adapted for a television series by Walt Disney. She was named Georgia author of the Year by the Dixie Council of Authors and Journalists in 1968.
She spent the last years of her life in Social Circle in Waltson County with her family, and she died there of cancer in 1985.
~Georgia Center for the Book
She was born in 1908 in Bamberg County, SC. She loved to read and maintained an interest in reading and writing from an early age; she even published a poem at the age of 9. She grew up in Savannah where her family had moved and was graduated from Savannah High School. She received a A.B. in Journalism at the University of Georgia in 1930.
She was hired for the staff of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution Sunday magazine in 1941 and remained there until 1954 when she joined her husband, an Army officer who was stationed at a hospital in Germany. When they returned home, she resumed working for the newspaper and began freelancing stories.
Redbook magazine published several of her book-length novels, which focused on mysteries but with a wide range of appealing young characters whose adventures were sometimes "torrid," in one coleague's words. When it came to writing children's stories, she said in 1966, "You have to be careful about what expressions might offend parents, teachers and librarians." But she nonetheless took pleasure in surprising her reading with some unexpected words.
Her mystery novels for young readers included "The Ghost Next Door," "Uncle Robert's Secret," "The Secret of the Seven Crows," "The Mystery of the Other Girl," "Christmas Tree Mystery," "The Mystery of the Mystery Book," "The Mystery of the Gingerbread House," "The Secret of Hidden Creek" and "The Secrets of the Pirate Inn," the latter of which was adapted for a television series by Walt Disney. She was named Georgia author of the Year by the Dixie Council of Authors and Journalists in 1968.
She spent the last years of her life in Social Circle in Waltson County with her family, and she died there of cancer in 1985.
~Georgia Center for the Book
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 122 reviews
May 12, 2020
3.5 stars. Read in a day, this was a compelling, fast paced ghost story with some great characters and an interesting plot.
A 10 year old girl drowned in her Aunts pond and years later her father returns with a new daughter, Sherry to visit his sister. Having been deeply distressed by the accident he hasn't spoken of his loss to his wife or his daughter who are totally unaware of her existence. Sherry soon starts to play that she has an imaginary friend and she shocks everyone with some of the details her imaginary friend provides.
This had some wonderfully eerie parts, our dog pushed open the door suddenly whilst I was reading this which really made me jump and my daughter laugh. There are some very good characters, we really liked the older girls, who set out to investigate this mystery. Their relationship with each other, their younger siblings, and adults were well observed. We enjoyed some moments of humour, especially the girls attempts to eavesdrop on a seance and the comical depiction of the spiritualist. There was some very funny and accurate descriptions of how the medium was supposedly contacting the spirit world. I thought the 70s style comical drawings didn't suit the tone of the book, although there were comical scenes, the majority of the book was a mystery story and ghost story which didn't go well with this style.
This is a book I would have absolutely loved as a child.
Read on open library.
A 10 year old girl drowned in her Aunts pond and years later her father returns with a new daughter, Sherry to visit his sister. Having been deeply distressed by the accident he hasn't spoken of his loss to his wife or his daughter who are totally unaware of her existence. Sherry soon starts to play that she has an imaginary friend and she shocks everyone with some of the details her imaginary friend provides.
This had some wonderfully eerie parts, our dog pushed open the door suddenly whilst I was reading this which really made me jump and my daughter laugh. There are some very good characters, we really liked the older girls, who set out to investigate this mystery. Their relationship with each other, their younger siblings, and adults were well observed. We enjoyed some moments of humour, especially the girls attempts to eavesdrop on a seance and the comical depiction of the spiritualist. There was some very funny and accurate descriptions of how the medium was supposedly contacting the spirit world. I thought the 70s style comical drawings didn't suit the tone of the book, although there were comical scenes, the majority of the book was a mystery story and ghost story which didn't go well with this style.
This is a book I would have absolutely loved as a child.
Read on open library.
August 9, 2014
I read this book at least fifty times when I was younger, it was one of my favorite books back then and thanks to the internet, I was able to order myself a "new" copy. I read it again in a day and remember why I loved it so much. The story is about two neighborhood friends who become involved with the mystery of the ghost next door. Miranda was a young girl who drowned in the pond in the back of her Aunt Judith's property. Miranda's Dad has remarried and had another daughter, Sherry, who knows nothing about Miranda. Sherry is visiting her Aunt for the summer when suddenly odd things begin happening. Is it all coincidence or is Sherry communicating with the ghost of Miranda?
This is a young adult novel, I loved it as a pre-teen and I love it just as much now. The story has just enough of a hint of the mysterious to completely satisfy the reader. Love it!
This is a young adult novel, I loved it as a pre-teen and I love it just as much now. The story has just enough of a hint of the mysterious to completely satisfy the reader. Love it!
May 21, 2013
I knew I read and loved this book as a kid but couldn't remember a single detail about it. Unlike all the people who vaguely recall something about a ghost and a blue rose or a stone owl with "love in its eyes" or the ghost of a half-sister who drowned but can't place the title, I've always remembered that I once had a favorite book named The Ghost Next Door (and Wylly Folk St. John is such an awesome name, how could I ever forget that?) but I couldn't for the life of me tell you what that book was about, except maybe...some kids? Who live...next door? To a ghost?
But I digress. I just read it again for the first time in over 25 years and oh, wow. THIS IS MY FAVORITE KIND OF BOOK. And I guess it always has been. In addition to the aforementioned blue rose and stone owl it has ghosts and psychics and mysterious happenings AND skepticism and psychology and a plucky young heroine who finds answers IN BOOKS and in the end you're not really entirely 100% sure if everything can be logically explained or if there really is something supernatural going on. If all that isn't enough, it's illustrated by the GENIUS Trina Schart Hyman. There are even references to Shakespeare and The Three Faces of Eve and Edgar Allen Poe.
I've moved this one to my Favorites shelf.
But I digress. I just read it again for the first time in over 25 years and oh, wow. THIS IS MY FAVORITE KIND OF BOOK. And I guess it always has been. In addition to the aforementioned blue rose and stone owl it has ghosts and psychics and mysterious happenings AND skepticism and psychology and a plucky young heroine who finds answers IN BOOKS and in the end you're not really entirely 100% sure if everything can be logically explained or if there really is something supernatural going on. If all that isn't enough, it's illustrated by the GENIUS Trina Schart Hyman. There are even references to Shakespeare and The Three Faces of Eve and Edgar Allen Poe.
I've moved this one to my Favorites shelf.
July 22, 2017
One of my favorite books from my childhood. I should bring it home for Madeleine to read.
May 11, 2022
This is a middle-grade horror/mystery (moreso a mystery) book from the 70's, and it was excellent.
Our main character, Lindsey, is a 13 year old girl who sets out to disprove (or prove, if it turns out to be true) that the ghost of Miranda (a young girl who drowned) is haunting their neighbor's house and communicating with her stepsister. Some of the adult characters are skeptical about Sherry's (Miranda's would-be stepsister) new "imaginary" friend named Miranda, and a seance is conducted to try and communicate with her spirit. The possibility of a ghost, of course, causes complications and grief for some of the adults and Lindsey and her friend Tammy take on the responsibility of trying to unravel the matter.
I honestly had no idea what I was getting into with this book. I figured it was geared towards the younger audience based on page count and the cover - but I didn't know much else. I have to say this was a very pleasant surprise!
The narrative voice was very charming and amusing; in fact, all of the kid characters were quite convincing and often say goofy things that kids do. I chuckled at least a couple times.
Taking place in Georgia, the characters have a bit of a southern accent and the dialogue as well as the narrative isn't always grammatically correct - which added to the personality of the story, for me. Also, you do really feel that this book was written in the 70's, for better or worse. I really enjoyed it, but some might find it a bit dated.
The mystery had me in its grip and I honestly couldn't predict whether or not anything supernatural was going on or if it was all phony. Without spoiling too much, it had sort of an ambiguous ending which I dug - I thought it fit perfectly given the nature of the story.
Overall I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it to others who still enjoy reading children's books, particularly children's horror and mysteries.
I give this one a solid 4⭐
Our main character, Lindsey, is a 13 year old girl who sets out to disprove (or prove, if it turns out to be true) that the ghost of Miranda (a young girl who drowned) is haunting their neighbor's house and communicating with her stepsister. Some of the adult characters are skeptical about Sherry's (Miranda's would-be stepsister) new "imaginary" friend named Miranda, and a seance is conducted to try and communicate with her spirit. The possibility of a ghost, of course, causes complications and grief for some of the adults and Lindsey and her friend Tammy take on the responsibility of trying to unravel the matter.
I honestly had no idea what I was getting into with this book. I figured it was geared towards the younger audience based on page count and the cover - but I didn't know much else. I have to say this was a very pleasant surprise!
The narrative voice was very charming and amusing; in fact, all of the kid characters were quite convincing and often say goofy things that kids do. I chuckled at least a couple times.
Taking place in Georgia, the characters have a bit of a southern accent and the dialogue as well as the narrative isn't always grammatically correct - which added to the personality of the story, for me. Also, you do really feel that this book was written in the 70's, for better or worse. I really enjoyed it, but some might find it a bit dated.
The mystery had me in its grip and I honestly couldn't predict whether or not anything supernatural was going on or if it was all phony. Without spoiling too much, it had sort of an ambiguous ending which I dug - I thought it fit perfectly given the nature of the story.
Overall I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it to others who still enjoy reading children's books, particularly children's horror and mysteries.
I give this one a solid 4⭐
November 11, 2011
I read this book over and over. I can't remember exactly how the story goes-I think a girl is staying with her aunt and she and her friend find things left behind by the ghost of a girl who drowned? I remember a scene with an owl made out of cement and another where the ghost girl leaves behind carnations she's dyed blue and the girls try to find out what happened to the ghost girl. Loved it.
February 22, 2018
Loved this when I was young. I'd like to hunt down a copy and read it again.
September 26, 2012
I see Wylly Folk St. John was publishing before I was born. Having the pleasure now, I realize she shares the high calibre of pre & post 1970s authors like Richard Peck. It's a blessing to find long ago titles on discount tables. To my delight, I discovered I own another Wylly story: "The Mystery Book Mystery" (1976)! There’s a special touch to pre-1980s mysteries: less distraction with gadgets and being more in tune with surroundings. Nothing dates these novels except language and courtesy. The girls in "The Ghost Next Door" (1971) could be teens today: playing compact discs instead of records, still keeping an eye on younger brothers.
I issued three stars because there is far less ghost involvement and fear than we glean from the synopsis. The soft cover portrait especially, demonstrates heavy haunting that isn't the case. If you know that, there is plenty of hinting and wondering that would be freaky in real life. The melancholy of a lost family member, the sensation of old belongings, are always exotic touches. I always find the very best ones in the world are mysteries about anything at all, except murders. Deciphering notes, finding artifacts, secret places.... less drastic scenarios are exceedingly original and we connect with them much more deeply. They aren’t police matters: everyday mysteries are up to us!
Extraordinary writing ability makes this book a gem. The author phrases things superbly, with the dialogue entirely feasible. ‘Lindsay’ and ‘Tammy’ are refreshingly mature: best friends adapted to being different. There are sketches throughout depicting characters exactly as you expect, especially the medium! I wonder who drew them. A tertiary character driving the book, the neighbour’s niece ‘Sherry’, is the most unusual narrative I’ve ever seen. It works! It is she who experiences phenomena. The protagonists observe.
I issued three stars because there is far less ghost involvement and fear than we glean from the synopsis. The soft cover portrait especially, demonstrates heavy haunting that isn't the case. If you know that, there is plenty of hinting and wondering that would be freaky in real life. The melancholy of a lost family member, the sensation of old belongings, are always exotic touches. I always find the very best ones in the world are mysteries about anything at all, except murders. Deciphering notes, finding artifacts, secret places.... less drastic scenarios are exceedingly original and we connect with them much more deeply. They aren’t police matters: everyday mysteries are up to us!
Extraordinary writing ability makes this book a gem. The author phrases things superbly, with the dialogue entirely feasible. ‘Lindsay’ and ‘Tammy’ are refreshingly mature: best friends adapted to being different. There are sketches throughout depicting characters exactly as you expect, especially the medium! I wonder who drew them. A tertiary character driving the book, the neighbour’s niece ‘Sherry’, is the most unusual narrative I’ve ever seen. It works! It is she who experiences phenomena. The protagonists observe.
Want to read
February 26, 2012This author, whom I'd scarcely heard of before, as now come up two days in a row.
May 10, 2021
A blast from the past:
Loved this book as a child and re-read it... And it's just as good as I remember!
Two Tween girls (neighbors & best friends) try to get to the bottom of some possible paranormal occurences that have started to take place around their neighbor Miss Judith's house and yard. The Ghost, if it does exist, is thought to be the restless spirit of Miss Judith's much-beloved niece, Miranda, who drowned on the property several years earlier. Of course the girls believe there has to be logical explanations for the ghostly happenings--and there are. Sort of. Maybe. In the end, the reader is never 100% sure if there really was a ghost or not. And that's part of the fun of the book. The setting is somewhat gothic and mysterious and the author does a good job of building the tension. A great mystery story for both children and adults.
Highly recommended!
Loved this book as a child and re-read it... And it's just as good as I remember!
Two Tween girls (neighbors & best friends) try to get to the bottom of some possible paranormal occurences that have started to take place around their neighbor Miss Judith's house and yard. The Ghost, if it does exist, is thought to be the restless spirit of Miss Judith's much-beloved niece, Miranda, who drowned on the property several years earlier. Of course the girls believe there has to be logical explanations for the ghostly happenings--and there are. Sort of. Maybe. In the end, the reader is never 100% sure if there really was a ghost or not. And that's part of the fun of the book. The setting is somewhat gothic and mysterious and the author does a good job of building the tension. A great mystery story for both children and adults.
Highly recommended!
August 27, 2010
Still Remember This From the 70s….
I loved THE GHOST NEXT DOOR in grade school, and it is dated, but it’s still a pretty good supernatural children’s book, nonetheless.
Twelve-year-old Lindsey Morrow lives near Atlanta, where the houses are surrounded by large, wooded lots and many of the neighbors are doctors of one kind or another. She and her best friend, Tammy, begin to investigate when strange things occur around Sherry Alston - a visiting niece of their next-door neighbor. Is Sherry really communicating with the spirit of her sister who drowned in the pond thirteen years ago? Finding the owl with love in its eyes will lead to the answer.
I loved THE GHOST NEXT DOOR in grade school, and it is dated, but it’s still a pretty good supernatural children’s book, nonetheless.
Twelve-year-old Lindsey Morrow lives near Atlanta, where the houses are surrounded by large, wooded lots and many of the neighbors are doctors of one kind or another. She and her best friend, Tammy, begin to investigate when strange things occur around Sherry Alston - a visiting niece of their next-door neighbor. Is Sherry really communicating with the spirit of her sister who drowned in the pond thirteen years ago? Finding the owl with love in its eyes will lead to the answer.
March 29, 2011
I first read this book when I was a child, in grade school, and fell in love with it right away. I read and reread the book voraciously until I had to return it to the school library. After that I couldn't find the book, and when I tried to look for it anywhere all I came up with is a book with the same name in "Goosebumps" (I grew up prior to the invention of the internet).
Thankfully, with the help of the all knowing internet, I was able to find the book again and cherish it over and over.
The story is interesting, spooky, and intriguing, even if it was made for children. An absolute must.
Thankfully, with the help of the all knowing internet, I was able to find the book again and cherish it over and over.
The story is interesting, spooky, and intriguing, even if it was made for children. An absolute must.
June 12, 2014
This book was one of my favorites when I was a girl, and I've just finished reading it aloud to my daughter. It was a joy to rediscover it with her, and the book is just as appealing now as it was over 30 years ago.
August 12, 2011
Definitely a read for a younger audience, though I quite enjoyed and read it in one afternoon/evening. The end felt a bit forced to me but I like the open ending, was there a ghost or not?
October 4, 2021
I called This book “The Ghost Next Door” the plague in my mind, its not because it’s a bad book, to the contrary its an excellent book, but I kind of struggled with it, I tried to find it everywhere but couldn’t, then it popped up on amazon and I ordered it, I was captivated by the cover of a girl holding an object floating on water, it felt strange, unique, intriguing and sad, something to look for to.
First I got it, I read 107 pages, then for some reason I left it for so long to the extent I forgot some details, and I am not the kind of the reader who skips details, so I decided to start reading it again, and I stopped again at 75 pages, and again I lost some details, but this time I wondered it’s a young adults story, the details can be important, but a short story nevertheless, so I kept going despite the minor forgetfulness, and I managed to finish the book eventually, excellent work this piece of art.
It requires real talent to bring up ghost stories with children, as often such stories are by nature gloomy and scary, however, willy seems capable of merging the world of a child’s imagination with the possibilities of the supernatural.
It is a very intelligent story, as it shows you how a ghost could have different meanings to different social classes and statuses, to a mother or a father or a friend or a curious child, to a grieving father or a delusional relative.
The story has a very simple social structure of aunts and fathers and brothers, but each has a role to play in the tale, as an adult reader you can see what the writer intends to do with each, but for a younger audience the story tailors around their ears without them noticing how skillfully the writer is gathering the story in a tightly net, the father is there or not there, secrets, goings and comings, its all for a purpose, nothing is left for chance, for example, you can say “we can safely investigate the house because the family will leave on a picnic on Sunday”, for a child he’ll say that’s a good opportunity to investigate the house as the inhabitants will be out, however, for an adult reader, you can conclude that the only way to investigate the house is to let the inhabitants go out, so it is an intended math rather than coincidental, but who has the eye to differ the purpose of each.
A very intelligent approach for the young audience, especially for a tale of ghosts, it’s not a scary tale, it’s in fact in the form of a mystery, and you move from chapter to another to see how the story unfolds, and you do get answers, it doesn’t leave you guessing for long, willy is very talented, I wish more of her books are available and republished.
However, upon reading the book, you realize the writer has a very vivid imagination towards how would a child behave in facing the unfortunate or the unfamiliar, she seems completely capable of understanding how a child will act, think and behave, albeit it can be a little imaginative, for a child might be a bit less gullible and more logical in behavior, but for literary purposes it is suitable, at the end the book is for the young minds, its meant to sweep into their young minds and draw the curtains of the play.
You see, children’s intelligence is often under estimated, at once we think they are too intelligent and at times we think they are too young to understand, and Willy seems capable to balance both, at one end we have one child who’s skeptical about the existence of ghosts driven by a pragmatic father with scientific brain nature, and the other is conflicted between do ghosts exists or not, and in their dialogue with each other you seem to notice that the stream of story telling from the mind of the writer to the children in the book is mildly filtered, in other words, the dialogue has the attitude of a child, which is filtered in such manner to suit their psychology, understanding and behavior of children, while the concepts discussed are mainly simplified but can be very conflicting for young children understanding, and this I believe might be intentional by the writer maybe due to her understanding of how children are often more intelligent than we think.
The writer seems capable in my opinion of making it a much more realistic story, but it’ll be a pure horror story, and certainly not as suitable to the young mind instead of soft literature to excite the mind, in my opinion she is capable and has a good heart to weave the story in ways that suits the young mind, yet it gets darker towards the end and that is a story of its own when it comes to how the writer is capable of gradually raising the young mind awareness towards adult affairs even though it has to do with ghosts.
But then things do get dark, a change of pace you might say, meddling with the occult or dealing with ghost could have consequences, especially when you read a book through the imagination of a child, you have no guarantees whether ghosts do exist or not, and then suddenly strange and terrifying events take place and there you know the write is actually capable of changing the pace and making things sound real or engulfing the young mind with ghostly theaters.
It’s a mystery book at the end, you can’t know what’s happening until you reach the end.
Anyway my reason for reading the story is for the experience I gain from it, a book from the 70s experienced again in modern times, you need to see how life was lived back then, young children meddling with affairs, how they think, how simple were their lives, how important little things are for them, it is the most important factors to reflect such manners in literature, how kind and peaceful children are, and how soft are their hearts and how caring they can be all the way until adulthood and joining the army to kill innocents under the orders of a white-haired rigid idiot.
This what happens now does it, they were all children one day were they, studying, going to school, learning, playing hide and seek and then violence, for peace or hate, still violent, and this is a deep flaw in our yet to learn cultures.
Child upbringing is the more important aspect in the human condition, as I usually say, nothing is more dangerous than a child who never grew.
Mostly such young minds in the body of adults are deeply insecure, unequipped to deal with serious manners and life diversity, they always feel less than others, so they use force and trickery to undermine others for factors they’re yet to understand, when I was young I thought adult knows it all, but when I grew older I realized they are but children talking politics, they never grew and they are highly insecure.
And to fix this problem, you need a highly educated child, not with knowledge, but with a proper mindset build, we teach them laws, but never hows and whys, we can tell them, learn child, negative and negative is positive, the child takes it as a rule, and given the type of psychology he is born with, he could struggle with it, but when you break it down to him or her, he understands why negative and negative is positive.
So what I am trying to say is we need to CAREFULLY work on making our children equipped to deal with life in a gradual manner so they become proper functioning members of society, and that’s an educated person, the rest is but knowledge, and if we didn’t educate the child in a manner to make him a suitable positive peaceful society candidate, than we will create a child (young or adult) who will struggle between doing and not doing, mostly driven by doing and conflicted by laws of not doing, not capable of knowing how to analyze the manner or how to solve his affair, except with aggression or giving in to pity instincts.
This book deeply focuses on such children psychology, a lot of touches from an expert in my opinion, the book has lots of details and a weaved story with mathematics precision, it’s an interactive story, you need to be aware of the details, when a child says, remember when this happened or when she said that, its carefully calculated, if you don’t pay proper attention, you can’t keep up with the story.
Though it’s a young adult story, its exceptionally well written and very thick, a lot of details, very dense and loads of speculations.
A lot of illogical affairs that requires a rational explanation, the story seems to be headed towards logical explanations anyways, but the writer is skilled enough to keep you guessing and at the same time wondering do ghosts really exist, can they affect our lives, how would they influence children and adults alike, not an easily granted skill that is to weave a story like this, this is excellent work, rarely you find such works on the shelves, surely it does.
Great read, well-earned 5 stars
First I got it, I read 107 pages, then for some reason I left it for so long to the extent I forgot some details, and I am not the kind of the reader who skips details, so I decided to start reading it again, and I stopped again at 75 pages, and again I lost some details, but this time I wondered it’s a young adults story, the details can be important, but a short story nevertheless, so I kept going despite the minor forgetfulness, and I managed to finish the book eventually, excellent work this piece of art.
It requires real talent to bring up ghost stories with children, as often such stories are by nature gloomy and scary, however, willy seems capable of merging the world of a child’s imagination with the possibilities of the supernatural.
It is a very intelligent story, as it shows you how a ghost could have different meanings to different social classes and statuses, to a mother or a father or a friend or a curious child, to a grieving father or a delusional relative.
The story has a very simple social structure of aunts and fathers and brothers, but each has a role to play in the tale, as an adult reader you can see what the writer intends to do with each, but for a younger audience the story tailors around their ears without them noticing how skillfully the writer is gathering the story in a tightly net, the father is there or not there, secrets, goings and comings, its all for a purpose, nothing is left for chance, for example, you can say “we can safely investigate the house because the family will leave on a picnic on Sunday”, for a child he’ll say that’s a good opportunity to investigate the house as the inhabitants will be out, however, for an adult reader, you can conclude that the only way to investigate the house is to let the inhabitants go out, so it is an intended math rather than coincidental, but who has the eye to differ the purpose of each.
A very intelligent approach for the young audience, especially for a tale of ghosts, it’s not a scary tale, it’s in fact in the form of a mystery, and you move from chapter to another to see how the story unfolds, and you do get answers, it doesn’t leave you guessing for long, willy is very talented, I wish more of her books are available and republished.
However, upon reading the book, you realize the writer has a very vivid imagination towards how would a child behave in facing the unfortunate or the unfamiliar, she seems completely capable of understanding how a child will act, think and behave, albeit it can be a little imaginative, for a child might be a bit less gullible and more logical in behavior, but for literary purposes it is suitable, at the end the book is for the young minds, its meant to sweep into their young minds and draw the curtains of the play.
You see, children’s intelligence is often under estimated, at once we think they are too intelligent and at times we think they are too young to understand, and Willy seems capable to balance both, at one end we have one child who’s skeptical about the existence of ghosts driven by a pragmatic father with scientific brain nature, and the other is conflicted between do ghosts exists or not, and in their dialogue with each other you seem to notice that the stream of story telling from the mind of the writer to the children in the book is mildly filtered, in other words, the dialogue has the attitude of a child, which is filtered in such manner to suit their psychology, understanding and behavior of children, while the concepts discussed are mainly simplified but can be very conflicting for young children understanding, and this I believe might be intentional by the writer maybe due to her understanding of how children are often more intelligent than we think.
The writer seems capable in my opinion of making it a much more realistic story, but it’ll be a pure horror story, and certainly not as suitable to the young mind instead of soft literature to excite the mind, in my opinion she is capable and has a good heart to weave the story in ways that suits the young mind, yet it gets darker towards the end and that is a story of its own when it comes to how the writer is capable of gradually raising the young mind awareness towards adult affairs even though it has to do with ghosts.
But then things do get dark, a change of pace you might say, meddling with the occult or dealing with ghost could have consequences, especially when you read a book through the imagination of a child, you have no guarantees whether ghosts do exist or not, and then suddenly strange and terrifying events take place and there you know the write is actually capable of changing the pace and making things sound real or engulfing the young mind with ghostly theaters.
It’s a mystery book at the end, you can’t know what’s happening until you reach the end.
Anyway my reason for reading the story is for the experience I gain from it, a book from the 70s experienced again in modern times, you need to see how life was lived back then, young children meddling with affairs, how they think, how simple were their lives, how important little things are for them, it is the most important factors to reflect such manners in literature, how kind and peaceful children are, and how soft are their hearts and how caring they can be all the way until adulthood and joining the army to kill innocents under the orders of a white-haired rigid idiot.
This what happens now does it, they were all children one day were they, studying, going to school, learning, playing hide and seek and then violence, for peace or hate, still violent, and this is a deep flaw in our yet to learn cultures.
Child upbringing is the more important aspect in the human condition, as I usually say, nothing is more dangerous than a child who never grew.
Mostly such young minds in the body of adults are deeply insecure, unequipped to deal with serious manners and life diversity, they always feel less than others, so they use force and trickery to undermine others for factors they’re yet to understand, when I was young I thought adult knows it all, but when I grew older I realized they are but children talking politics, they never grew and they are highly insecure.
And to fix this problem, you need a highly educated child, not with knowledge, but with a proper mindset build, we teach them laws, but never hows and whys, we can tell them, learn child, negative and negative is positive, the child takes it as a rule, and given the type of psychology he is born with, he could struggle with it, but when you break it down to him or her, he understands why negative and negative is positive.
So what I am trying to say is we need to CAREFULLY work on making our children equipped to deal with life in a gradual manner so they become proper functioning members of society, and that’s an educated person, the rest is but knowledge, and if we didn’t educate the child in a manner to make him a suitable positive peaceful society candidate, than we will create a child (young or adult) who will struggle between doing and not doing, mostly driven by doing and conflicted by laws of not doing, not capable of knowing how to analyze the manner or how to solve his affair, except with aggression or giving in to pity instincts.
This book deeply focuses on such children psychology, a lot of touches from an expert in my opinion, the book has lots of details and a weaved story with mathematics precision, it’s an interactive story, you need to be aware of the details, when a child says, remember when this happened or when she said that, its carefully calculated, if you don’t pay proper attention, you can’t keep up with the story.
Though it’s a young adult story, its exceptionally well written and very thick, a lot of details, very dense and loads of speculations.
A lot of illogical affairs that requires a rational explanation, the story seems to be headed towards logical explanations anyways, but the writer is skilled enough to keep you guessing and at the same time wondering do ghosts really exist, can they affect our lives, how would they influence children and adults alike, not an easily granted skill that is to weave a story like this, this is excellent work, rarely you find such works on the shelves, surely it does.
Great read, well-earned 5 stars
June 1, 2021
A sweet story of kids having fun in the summer and maybe discovering a ghost. Nothing threatening though. My older daughter enjoyed it, especially the suspenseful chapter endings! The little one found them a little too intense, but also wouldn’t miss hearing the chapters. Over all a very cute book that reminded me of summers when I was a kid and we’d just kind of do whatever!
May 10, 2016
This is a book I found at a Yardsale for 25 cents, which I am glad that is all I spent on this book given the problems that threw me off which I will list below.
CONS:
I Hate Smart Kids - No really, the protagonists are two kids in their early teens and do some Sherlock Holmes level of analysis when they are trying to track down clues to whether or not there is some paranormal involvement happening in the house next door. In some cases they immediately jump to the correct conclusion with no missteps or any real investigation. I am not saying its impossible that young teens can be quite smart. I am saying that in this old style southern setting, with simple people in a simple town, with girls that age... their level of analysis is completely unbelievable. They are smarter than the ADULTS in this story at times...
SPOILER ALERT!
Ghosts Don't Exist - Well at least not in this story anyway. This is where the Spoiler alert comes in. YOU DON'T SEE THE GHOST EVER, AT ALL. It never makes an appearance... it is simply heavily implied that it is around. Which is frustrating. The cover of this book shows a young ethereal ghostly girl cradling the ever important cement-owl in her hands... which makes a reader think we'd see the ghost. No... no we do not.
Shut Up Already - Dear god this is one of those books where 97% of it is Dialogue between characters. I wanted to see some hauntings, I wanted to see people freaking out and fleeing down the street in their nightwear having been jostled awake by an apparition. Instead we have hundreds of pages of "Hey, you, is there a ghost?" I don't mind dialogue, it's necessary to a story, but when that's all you have to bring to the table as an author, its time to set down your pen and go apply at the local Gas Station.
PROS:
Subliminal Sub-plot - All I really liked about this Story is that there was an undertone talking about how Sherry, the unknowing Half-Sister of Miranda (the apparent ghost), feels like her aunt and father loved Miranda more than she did and she begins to act out and make up stories for attention. Making the reader sad that they allowed the loss of Miranda to affect the amount of attention they give to Sherry, and alternatively that Miranda might be haunting them because they have hidden the very fact that she even existed from the new family.
All in all this book mostly just wasn't for me. If you want a family friendly story with very little action and lots of dialogue, have at it!
CONS:
I Hate Smart Kids - No really, the protagonists are two kids in their early teens and do some Sherlock Holmes level of analysis when they are trying to track down clues to whether or not there is some paranormal involvement happening in the house next door. In some cases they immediately jump to the correct conclusion with no missteps or any real investigation. I am not saying its impossible that young teens can be quite smart. I am saying that in this old style southern setting, with simple people in a simple town, with girls that age... their level of analysis is completely unbelievable. They are smarter than the ADULTS in this story at times...
SPOILER ALERT!
Ghosts Don't Exist - Well at least not in this story anyway. This is where the Spoiler alert comes in. YOU DON'T SEE THE GHOST EVER, AT ALL. It never makes an appearance... it is simply heavily implied that it is around. Which is frustrating. The cover of this book shows a young ethereal ghostly girl cradling the ever important cement-owl in her hands... which makes a reader think we'd see the ghost. No... no we do not.
Shut Up Already - Dear god this is one of those books where 97% of it is Dialogue between characters. I wanted to see some hauntings, I wanted to see people freaking out and fleeing down the street in their nightwear having been jostled awake by an apparition. Instead we have hundreds of pages of "Hey, you, is there a ghost?" I don't mind dialogue, it's necessary to a story, but when that's all you have to bring to the table as an author, its time to set down your pen and go apply at the local Gas Station.
PROS:
Subliminal Sub-plot - All I really liked about this Story is that there was an undertone talking about how Sherry, the unknowing Half-Sister of Miranda (the apparent ghost), feels like her aunt and father loved Miranda more than she did and she begins to act out and make up stories for attention. Making the reader sad that they allowed the loss of Miranda to affect the amount of attention they give to Sherry, and alternatively that Miranda might be haunting them because they have hidden the very fact that she even existed from the new family.
All in all this book mostly just wasn't for me. If you want a family friendly story with very little action and lots of dialogue, have at it!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 19, 2010
I hve this book on my shelf of books that I saved from my youth. When my friend Jenn gave it four stars recently, I couldn't resist picking it up for the first time in probably 25 years. I couldn't remember a thing about it, but the fact that I still have it means that I probably loooooved it when I was a kid. I wish I had a goodreads review from my childhood self! This was very good and very creepy, and not at all condescending. Holds up well over time. I enjoyed reading this a lot. Back it goes on the shelf. Will it stay there another 25 years? I wonder who will read it next and when?
July 17, 2013
I remember finding this book on the "free time" shelf in second grade and hiding it under my folder so my teacher wouldn't see me reading it, thinking an adult book had mistakenly been dropped into our tiny library. The cover was haunting (no pun intended). I wish I could find it again.
October 11, 2017
This is the book that made me the mystery lover I am today! I loved this book when I first read it in elementary school back in the '70's. Must track down a copy so that I can reread.
July 26, 2023
My favorite book as a child. Still have it.
May 30, 2018
I remember loving this book when I was younger. I need to find a copy and read it again
March 1, 2022
Strangely enough this book is a tour de force. Here you can find a real coup de grace.....
November 13, 2022
I read this when I was in elementary or middle school, that's 40 years ago. A peek at the cover (version with the shadowy girl holding the owl) brought back memories and made me want to look into it again. I saw it was available (text only) in KindleUnlimited, and I had a gift subscription to use, so ... I READ this (no audio was available). It was short. My brother's 6th grade reading list is was brought it back to my attention.
This did feel dated. Written in 1971 (I was just a baby) - the actions of the kids (running around freely all day, and all night, especially after one child had drowned/died), the dialog (the kids were quoting Shakespeare, and kept bringing up being born with a "caul" which I had to look up). Even the parents, and the whole Supernatural society and seance ... just not the type of thing I see as normal.
Still, I enjoyed re-reading this. I did have a vague memory of the story, not bad for 40+ years! It had made an impression on me as a little girl. It does leave you (the reader) not quite sure about things (was Miranda there as a ghost?)
On minor thing ... "Sherry came prancing up on a make-believe horse" ... that was something my friends and I did during our childhood. We'd ride imaginary horses home from school, and the only limit on how many horses we could have, was the number of names we could come up with for them. I'm not sure if that was something we came up with on our own, or by chance it was inspired by this book.
There was an afterward included in the Kindle copy, written by a grand-daughter of the author. I'm sure that was not included in my original copy, but it was really interesting to read and made me appreciate the author and the book more than if I didn't have this additional information. I'm glad it was there!
This did feel dated. Written in 1971 (I was just a baby) - the actions of the kids (running around freely all day, and all night, especially after one child had drowned/died), the dialog (the kids were quoting Shakespeare, and kept bringing up being born with a "caul" which I had to look up). Even the parents, and the whole Supernatural society and seance ... just not the type of thing I see as normal.
Still, I enjoyed re-reading this. I did have a vague memory of the story, not bad for 40+ years! It had made an impression on me as a little girl. It does leave you (the reader) not quite sure about things (was Miranda there as a ghost?)
On minor thing ... "Sherry came prancing up on a make-believe horse" ... that was something my friends and I did during our childhood. We'd ride imaginary horses home from school, and the only limit on how many horses we could have, was the number of names we could come up with for them. I'm not sure if that was something we came up with on our own, or by chance it was inspired by this book.
There was an afterward included in the Kindle copy, written by a grand-daughter of the author. I'm sure that was not included in my original copy, but it was really interesting to read and made me appreciate the author and the book more than if I didn't have this additional information. I'm glad it was there!
July 20, 2018
I read, or tried to read anyway, this book several times as a child. I kept getting scared off by the ghostly girl image on the cover (or the copy that has the ghost). I never could make it all the way through the book. So when I encountered this book as an adult, I knew I had to give it another try.
This book is still scary, a bit, even as a grown-up. It's about a bunch of kids in a neighborhood trying to find a cement owl that was left behind by Miranda, the girl who died many years earlier and is now a ghost. One of the girls, who just happens to be Miranda's much younger sister, claims that she is talking to Miranda and seems to have knowledge of things that only Miranda would have. It's all very mysterious and the ending sort of leaves the reader hanging.
Technically speaking, this book is a bit scary. I was scared off of it several times as a kid. There is no violence or substance abuse. My only real complaint with this book was that there were too many characters in this story and it was hard trying to keep everyone straight. A bit fewer characters maybe next time. But a good creepy story.
This book is still scary, a bit, even as a grown-up. It's about a bunch of kids in a neighborhood trying to find a cement owl that was left behind by Miranda, the girl who died many years earlier and is now a ghost. One of the girls, who just happens to be Miranda's much younger sister, claims that she is talking to Miranda and seems to have knowledge of things that only Miranda would have. It's all very mysterious and the ending sort of leaves the reader hanging.
Technically speaking, this book is a bit scary. I was scared off of it several times as a kid. There is no violence or substance abuse. My only real complaint with this book was that there were too many characters in this story and it was hard trying to keep everyone straight. A bit fewer characters maybe next time. But a good creepy story.
December 31, 2017
I read several of Wylie Folk St. John's books as a kid and always remember them fondly, and I reread this one recently on a night when I felt too under the weather for much else. Issues raised in the book, such as grief, exploitation, and needless secrecy, are dealt with in an understated and matter-of-fact way. The protagonist, Sherry Alston, is a smart and determined young girl, and all the kids-even the spooky kid-are ultimately sympathetic.
One plot point in particular that makes the book stand out deals with a supposed clairvoyant who comes to exploit the death, ten years before the story, of a young girl by drowning.
One plot point in particular that makes the book stand out deals with a supposed clairvoyant who comes to exploit the death, ten years before the story, of a young girl by drowning.
July 14, 2024
I really want to like this book, but it just kind of fell flat for me. My aunt lent it to me while we were on vacation because she had just finished it and thought I might want to read it. She had seen a lot of people on social media posting about how they loved this book and read it when they were kids, so she decided to purchase it and read it herself. She didn’t seem to have much of an opinion on it, but I didn’t love the writing style. I actually quite liked the storyline, but I think part of what made the book?boring for me, was that I didn’t like most of the characters.
Most of the characters got on my nerves through the book and made the reading experience a bit dry. Although, I did really like the ending and the afterward written by Wylly Folk St. John’s great-granddaughter. It definitely made me want to read more of St. John’s books! In the end, I’d give this book 2.75 stars mostly because I really liked the concept, but didn’t love the execution.
Most of the characters got on my nerves through the book and made the reading experience a bit dry. Although, I did really like the ending and the afterward written by Wylly Folk St. John’s great-granddaughter. It definitely made me want to read more of St. John’s books! In the end, I’d give this book 2.75 stars mostly because I really liked the concept, but didn’t love the execution.
September 15, 2023
This is a good children's ghost story, with some nice spooky moments and a There wasn't anything mind-blowing about this one, but I liked the characters and the writing, it felt real and connected in the way everyone behaved towards each other, even the antagonists.
October 31, 2024
Lindsey doesn't know how to take it when Sherry moves in next door and seems to be in contact with the ghost of a girl who drowned.
I'm going with three stars for this - it's really a two star read for me now but I think my ten-year-old self would have thought it was four stars. I wish I had gone ahead and read it when I got it back then.
I like the relationship between Lindsey and Tammy, her best friend. They bounce ideas off each other, support one another, and gently challenge ideas that they both have. I think the author did a pretty good job of stringing the reader along with 'is it a ghost or an annoying child' though I was a bit disappointed with the ending. The cover is the best thing about the book.
I'm going with three stars for this - it's really a two star read for me now but I think my ten-year-old self would have thought it was four stars. I wish I had gone ahead and read it when I got it back then.
I like the relationship between Lindsey and Tammy, her best friend. They bounce ideas off each other, support one another, and gently challenge ideas that they both have. I think the author did a pretty good job of stringing the reader along with 'is it a ghost or an annoying child' though I was a bit disappointed with the ending. The cover is the best thing about the book.
January 13, 2020
This book surfaced as we were cleaning out one of the closets and since I have to read at least 60 books for my children's literature class this semester, I figured this would be a fun and quick read. It took me far longer than I expected because it really dragged for me. It is also very dated and so most kids wouldn't get many of the references offered up by the two teens who are the main characters. I like ghost stories and this really doesn't end up being a ghost story, more of a nice mystery with a happy ending.
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