It was a good quick read! I really like the secret tunnels and all that other good stuff. I like that it is halloween related with some spooks and some scares, but not enough for nightmares. ( )

Oh, I so very much liked this one and so did our Girl. The story starts out with Araminta Spookie, affectionately known as Minty who lives with her Aunt Tabby (who always seems to be yelling at the boiler) and her Uncle Drac (who sleeps, all day and works all night...he also happens to sleep upside down in a turret in the house with all his bats) because her parents disappeared while hunting for vampires in Transylvania. This is quite the quirky story...Araminta strikes me as a very Wednesday Addams type character who delights in searching for ghosts and laying traps for unsuspecting visitors.

It seems that cranky old Aunt Tabby (after her most recent stint berating and kicking the boiler) has decided to sell the house because the boiler is just too much trouble (announced over soot covered toast no less), what ensues is quite the little adventure for Araminta attempts to sabotage Aunt tabby and scare away all the perspective house buyers...but when the strangest family shows up and wants to buy the house despite her best efforts...she's none to happy about it. Find out what Araminta has to do to keep the house from selling, all the while looking for ghosts (her life long dream happens to be to find a ghost) and encountering some very interesting twists as the story goes along.

This story is utterly charming in its carefully crafted, somewhat campy, but still suitably spooky little story! It's imaginative and fun for readers about 8-12 or so and it's fairly short with some cute illustrations that help bring the story to life. This is meant to be fun and a little silly I think, not genuinely spine-chilling...something to keep in mind...as an older reader (age 12 or so) might not be as amused with this story as say an 8 or 9 year old would be...My Haunted House would also make a fine read aloud book for younger kids (say age 6-8). I give it a solid A...we really enjoyed it and would recommend it in a heart beat, it's the quirky details that make this story wonderful and we are really looking forward to the second one ( )

My 7 year old has to read for 15 minutes every night. We are reading this book together. And you know what? I'm really enjoying it. It's got just enough unpredictability and quirkiness to keep even a tired old mom entertained. ( )

Sparkling with originality, the spooky and funny tales of Araminta and co. are full of delightful twists and surprises. Readers of adventure, magic and mystery will gobble these up.