Hide-and-Spook

Ghostville Elementary #7

by Marcia Thornton Jones

Synopsis Get ready for more spooky fun from the best-selling authors of THE BAILEY SCHOOL KIDS. And you thought YOUR school was scary? These third-graders are haunted by a classroom full of GHOSTS! Cassidy feels left out. She can't run or kick or swing a bat nearly as well as her friends, Jeff and Nina. Field Day is going to be a nightmare! And to make matters worse, Cassidy finds a creepy old doll in the school basement. She tries to hide it away, but it keeps coming back to haunt her. Even the classroom ghosts are scared boo-less! That's when Cassidy realizes that even though she can't catch a ball, she is really good at something - getting rid of ghosts! Ready or not, here she comes!

Genres: Childrens

Paperback

First published December 1, 2004

About the author

Marcia Thornton Jones has published 131 books for children with sales totaling more than 43 million copies world-wide. Her works include CHAMP (mid-grade novel), RATFINK (mid-grade novel), GODZILLA ATE MY HOMEWORK (chapter book), THE TALE OF JACK FROST (picture book) and LEPRECHAUN ON THE LOOSE (picture book). She is the co-author of seven popular series including The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids, Keyholders, Ghostville Elementary, The Bailey School Kids Jr. Chapter Books, Triplet Trouble, Bailey City Monsters, and The Barkley School for Dogs.

Marcia has been listed as a top 100 author by the Educational Paperback Association and selected for the Children’s Top 100 Books list by the National Education Association, International Reading Associations Children’s Choice Award. Marcia's books have received many honors and have appeared on on the Publisher's Weekly Bestsellers lists,

Marcia, a full time writer living in Lexington, Kentucky enjoys presenting at schools and conferences. As a veteran teacher with more than 20 years of experience, she easily relates the importance of writing to students of all ages.

Reviews

[Kaylyn Crump · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ghostville Elementary is about a girl named Cassidy who is not good at sports. She feels left out because both of her friends are really good at them. The Janitor brings in a creepy doll and Cassidy thinks it is haunted because it keeps moving back to her desk. There are also ghosts in her class, and apparently they are the ones moving the doll. One ghost, a girl, doesn’t know how to read or write and the doll was given to the class as a gift when that girl was alive. Back then, the teacher threw the doll out. So when the janitor gives the Cassidy, the ghost is scared because she thinks the teacher’s ghost in the olden days is in the doll and she thinks it is going to haunt her. In the end, Cassidy teachers the ghost how to read and write, and the ghost asks if she can keep the doll. When Cassidy looks at the doll in the ghost’s hands, she thinks she sees the doll blink at her.

I didn’t really like the book because it was creepy and nothing funny or happy happened. I felt like I was rolled into a rug and put into icy water.

Kaylyn (age 9).

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This title was a bit creepier than the others in the series, although it all turned out all right in the end. Perhaps that's just because the idea of haunted dolls gives me the creeps. I still highly recommend this series for children in grades 2-3.

[Julia Jasztal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mommy's review from 12/21/11 -


Julia and I found this at the library and since we've exhausted our library's collection of Scooby-Doo and SpongeBob we were trying to find another series we'd like. (As much as she loves The Magic School Bus and Treehouse books and a few others we haven't really ever read too many of those yet.)
But with this I think we've found it. Julia is always looking to be scared - just as long as it's not *too* scary. And this isn't. It's actually perfect. A perfect balance of spookiness is in here and my daughter is definitely younger, at almost 6 and 1/2 years, than this is geared toward. And it's still perfectly suitable.
And, I have to admit, I enjoyed it myself. We usually read a chapter or two before bed when we're reading a book like this and we save our picture book reading for the daytime most of the time. I was a little concerned that with the subject she may have a few bad dreams but that never came to pass.
A lot (all?) of the chapters end with a small bang which really keeps the kid wanting to read more and remembering what previously happened until it's time to pick the book back up.
All in all I'm impressed. This is #7 in the series according to GR and #4 in the series according to my library. And after looking inside for a list, I see GR is correct which doesn't surprise me because my library isn't on top of things all the time.
Anyhoo, we'll be getting the first 6 and reading them, hopefully in order, and then we'll see if there are any after #8, Ghostville Elementary #8: Ghosts Be Gone.
That reminds me, I don't think these *have* to be read in order. Obviously this is our first and it's #7 and we didn't feel like we missed anything and we still felt we knew the characters enough by the time the story really got going.
On a side note - this doesn't really jump out as the type of book to bring up meaningful conversations but it did. We discussed a number of things that happen in the book and how that relates to real children and adults. That's always a plus IMO.

[Jordan Connell · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I found this book by pure coincidence at one of my school book fairs when I was in about the third or fourth grade. I read it the first time and was blown away by how awesome it was. I have read it probably four or five times and I plan to read it again. I forgot about this book until my parents pulled it out of the attic and gave it back to me. This book was hilarious, and yet had just enough serious for me to still be completely engrossed at the old age of 15.

[paige turner ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hide-and-Spook was a pretty good book. It was fun to read, not as predictable as I thought it would have been. I didn't want to stop reading it. It just was missing something, and I wish I could say what it was, but what do I know? It was still entertaining for the kids, they didn't seem to think anything was missing, I guess it's just me.

The kids liked this book quite a bit, hopefully I'll be able to find some more for them to read with me.

[Cora · Rating 3 out of 5]

The kids really liked this one. Mildly disappointing ending but still good for first grade and good for character trait and setting lessons.