A Ghost in the Family [Hardcover]

Betty Ren Wright (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up

While visiting his friend Jeannie's eccentric Aunt Rosebud in a boarding house that may be haunted, ten-year-old Chad comes across a mystery involving a missing diamond bracelet.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6-This mystery features Chad Weldon and Jeannie Nichols, characters from Wright's The Ghost Comes Calling (1994) and Too Many Secrets (1997, both Scholastic). While staying at Jeannie's Aunt Rosebud's boarding house in Milwaukee, the two children stumble upon a mystery when Chad senses the presence of someone in his room and begins to feel more and more unwelcome and frightened for his safety. The story is rather repetitive and predictable. The characters are not well developed, relying heavily on archetypes such as the eccentric aunt, the mysterious fortune-teller, the precocious girl, and the all-American boy. The dialogue and descriptive narrative are rather dull. Supernatural occurrences throughout the story are more strange than spooky, and the solution to the mystery, who stole a valuable diamond bracelet, is contrived and unconvincing. While Wright's fans may choose this title based on her previous books, it isn't one of the author's strongest stories.
Megan McGuire, Lake View Elementary School, Madison, WI
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic; 1st edition (March 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 059002955X
• ISBN-13: 978-0590029551
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,718,677 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You've got to read this book!!!!, October 2, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: A Ghost In The Family (Paperback)

This is a really good book!I liked this book besause the auther made you feel like you were really in the book! I think this is a good book for anyone that likes scary stories.In this book a girl named Jeanie invited her friend Chad to spend the night at her aunts house. her aunts house has an actual ghost in Chad's bedroom! The ghost lived in aunt rosebuds house and he steels the poor nabors diamond bracelet.I think this book is recomened for 9 to 13 years of age.

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific ghost mystery, August 7, 2011

By 

Norway Mom (Oslo area) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Ghost In The Family (Paperback)

I read this book aloud to my boys (age 9 and 13). We all enjoyed it immensely (much better than the book we read in the Goosebumps series, where all the creepy stuff had a disappointing and logical explanation, nothing supernatural at all).

In "A Ghost in the family" there were plenty of supernatural events, with a big finale in the second to the last chapter. The book also featured an interesting mystery, memorable characters and positive messages about forgiveness and tolerance.

The book is good for reading aloud, but the short chapters also make it suitable for struggling readers. The character is a 10 year old, and the author uses words like "eccentric", so I would rate the reading level as higher than in the product's description (age 4-8 is too low). There are no illustrations.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Ghost in the Family, March 1, 2009

By 

Angela W. Foster - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Ghost In The Family (Paperback)

Loved the book. My son took it away so he could read it too. Great service