The Hungry Ghosts

by Julius Lester, Julius Lester

There are ghosts in the cemetery near Malcolm David?s house, and they?re filling the air with their spooky OOOOOs and EEEEEs and ARRRRs. When Malcolm David dares to go looking for them late one night, he is surprised to discover that the eerie howling is actually coming from the ghosts? empty stomachs. They?re not trying to scare anybody? they?re just hungry, and they don?t know what it is that ghosts are supposed to eat!A satisfying read-aloud for Halloween or anytime, this book mixes playfulness and lyricism as only Newbery Honor?winning author Julius Lester could do it. His dynamic text is well matched by Geraldo Valério?s glowing, happy artwork.

Genres: Picture Books, Halloween, Childrens, Ghosts, Fantasy, Food

40 pages, Hardcover

First published August 20, 2009

About the author

Julius Lester was an American writer of books for children and adults. He was an academic who taught for 32 years (1971–2003) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He was also a photographer, as well as a musician who recorded two albums of folk music and original songs.

Reviews

[Lauren Phelps]

Read this for my Children's Literature class; a cute story about ghosts that are hungry and a child who wants to help them.

[Emmeline Guest · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful poetic text and lovely illustrations should make this picture book a winner - but the strange-ness of ghosts eating ghost fruit (yes, the remains of blueberries - bananas - and what not) takes away, and does not add to, the story.

If you have a child who is super afraid of ghosts, perhaps these blueberry eating ghoulies will change their minds.

[Andréa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Strange.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent, descriptive, imaginative language. Beautiful illustrations.

[Set · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF after the part about blue berries having souls.

[Annie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely the worst book my son has ever had the audacity to pick up in the library. Zero stars

[Taylor Torgrimson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Malcolm David lives near a cemetery and one night he is awoken by the loud noises of GHOSTS! Eek! Malcolm plucks up enough courage one night to go and look for these noisy ghosts. However, when he finds them he is surprised to learn that the noises the ghosts make are coming from their stomachs because they are so hungry! Malcolm discovers that they are not mean ghosts and decides to help the ghosts find food so their tummies won't growl so loud anymore. But the next day, Malcolm's mother insists he cleans his room causing him to get so distracted he forgets to get food for the ghosts! Luckily, that night fruit ghosts appear to Malcolm and to his delight they follow him to the cemetery for the ghosts to eat! The ghosts ate the fruit ghosts and they were so happy they turned into bright colors of streaking light and filled the air. Leaving behind Malcolm no longer scared of ghosts and happy he helped them find food. This book is cleverly written and the descriptive imagery is fantastic. For example, "It was a night when Sister Moon unfolded her arms to let her light pour down over the countryside like fresh milk and cereal." The descriptive imagery and the beautiful illustrations really help the reader visualize the story as they read it. Geraldo Valerio does a fantastic job with the illustrations by making all the scenes in dark and light blues to show nighttime and uses brighter colors such as yellow, orange, and reds to describe the fruit ghosts and Malcolm. I recommend this book to readers in 2nd or 3rd grade.

[Baby Bookworm · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review was originally written for The Baby Bookworm. Visit us for new picture books reviews daily!

Halloween Week, Day 6: Hello, everyone! Today, we read The Hungry Ghosts, written by Julius Lester and illustrated by Geraldo Valério, an strange and magical tale of a little boy and his new, ghostly friends.

Malcolm David is sleeping in his room one night when he feels a cold breeze blow through his room, and he believes ghosts are the culprit. He asks his ringring bird to wake him the following night so he can investigate, and finds three ghosts making eerie wails. The ghosts assure him that they aren’t the ones making the noises – it’s their stomachs, for they are so hungry! Malcolm David wants to help, but first he has to figure out what ghosts can eat!

This is an interesting book. There is definitely an otherworldly quality to the story and narrative, and it reads like a traditional fairytale. This is both a positive and negative: while the language is flowing and rich with metaphor, it’s a bit lengthy for a baby bookworm. Older children would probably enjoy it much more, but JJ was definitely squirming only about halfway through the book. Still, the artwork is lovely and fitting with the supernatural theme, and this is definitely one to check out if you have older readers.

Be sure to check out The Baby Bookworm for more reviews!

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow, what a fantastic illustrator is Geraldo Valerio! The pictures from this artist whom I've never heard of before brilliantly evoke the sensitive story by Julius Lester, adding dimensions that simply would not have existed if another artist had been used.

Everything about The Hungry Ghosts shouts freshness and newness and a deep originality of purpose that I really liked a lot. The ballast for all this fresh flair is the amazingly descriptive writing of the great Julius Lester, who as in his other books employs the arts of metaphor and sympathetic simile with unsurpassed skill. I love the way that Julius Lester writes in his picture books, and this one is no different.

Read The Hungry Ghosts, and you'll find an experience unlike any other picture book you've ever read. I certainly would recommend it, and would give it at least one and a half stars, and probably the full two.

[Amy Adams · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for a children's Halloween storytime at a community event. I like the artwork. The colors tell a nice story. As I was reading the book, I kept thinking, "Blah. I don't like this story." Then later, I was describing the story to a friend, and as I retold it, it sounded like such a cute story! Weird, I know. I think I just didn't like the way it was written. There was a real disconnect between the boy and the ghosts. Why were they bothering him? I mean, I know that, in the end, he's the one with the solution to the problem, but he didn't know that to begin with. Neither did the ghosts. With a quick rewrite, this story could've been a four or five star book.

[Eva-Marie Nevarez · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a bit strange to say the least. I'm not even sure what to say about it. Julia liked the ghost sounds and she seemed to like the illustrations. She had questions about why the kid was out at night by himself. :) The questions showed me that she was actually listening and thinking about the story so it couldn't have been too boring for her.

[K.L. Bernard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a spooky tale of ghost hauntings and the curiosity of a little boy who wants to find them. When he does they are hungry and he must help them find something to eat. You will have to read this funny tale to find out the rest of the story.

The wonderful hues of blue in these illustrations by Geraldo Valerio give the sensation of a cool spring night in the cemetery.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very odd, but fairly humorous tale about hungry ghosts. The onomatopoeia is fun to read aloud and the story isn't really scary. The illustrations also make the story more fun and less creepy. We enjoyed reading this book together, but we all thought it was pretty weird.

[Kathleen Newton · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story was okay. It had cute moments and why-am-I-reading-this moments. The section about the full moon was really dark, out of place, inappropriate for children, and totally unnecessary. Overall, I'd say don't waste your time.

[Ellen Kulick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very bizarre, reminds me of Adventure Time for some reason (perhaps the anthropomorphic fruit??) Quite long for a picture book.

"Brother and Sister Night hated the full moon because it meant their children, Darkness and Fear, could not go outside and play."

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Malcolm David is visited by three ghosts, and he plans to find out the reason for their visit. His close encounter with the ghosts reveals that they are hungry, so Malcolm devises a way to get them some food to eat. This tale is imaginative and whimsical.

[Sam Bloom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool illustrations (very blue with assorted bold warm colors mixed in), with an inventive but bizarre story.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of strange story about hungry ghosts.

Picture book

[Misty · Rating 5 out of 5]

With Halloween coming up, here is a not very scary ghost story. A little boy helps out three hungry ghosts.

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

What do hungry ghosts eat? Why ghost food, of course!

[Stacey Mulholland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jacob has been interested in cemeteries so I thought this would be a good choice as the ghosts aren't scary and it explains why they make noises (it's their hungry bellies).

[Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good writing and illustrations but I didn't like the story.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely L♡VED this!!!!!