I was read this book about 2 years ago in 5th grade.I took me a whiile to cath that the main characters are ghost poor kids died at a young age. Sad btu they make a goodo story. A young girl and her father move in to watch an old house. The young girl meets the young hosst girl but doesnt know shes a ghost. When the ghost girl convinces that they should go into the old Willis place where her mom watched the old lady that lived there and died.Te ghost girl and boys parents went to heaven but they had unfinished business. When the 3 children go in the house they let the old ladys spirit out bad things happen when they open the basement door. They find there own bodies! How would you feel if you were a ghost and found your old rotten body in a basement? In all the find out the old lady is a good person. Read this book find out what happens to the chilren when they walk in the house, see how they died in the basement, see what happens to the old ladies spirit. ( )

Although it took me a long while to catch on that two of the main characters were ghosts, I truly enjoyed this light thriller. I think young adults would appreciate the themes of friendship and forgiveness as well as the mysterious ghost story. ( )

A light horror story for young readers. Diana and Georgie, bother and sister, live alone on the Old Willis Estate in a run down shed. The rules say that they can't leave the estate. They've watched caretakers come and go but now the new caretaker has moved in. Mr. Morrison and his daughter, Lissa, live in a trailer on the estate. Soon Diana befriends LIssa and the trouble begins. ( )

Lissa moves onto the property of Oak Hill Manor with her father and befriends Diana. While exploring the abandoned house on the property, Lissa releases the ghost of Miss Lilian, the woman that caused the deaths of Diana and her little brother and now the children must stop Miss Lilian from hurting the siblings again and find peace for their bodies.

Mary Downing Hahn’s The Old Willis Place: A Ghost Story was published in 2004 by Clarion Books, after the movies The Others and The Sixth Sense were released. In similar fashion to these movies, Diana, the narrator, and her brother are ghosts, but that fact is not directly told to the reader until late in the novel. Hahn successfully made the ghost children to be characters readers can empathize with. She also succeeded in the difficult task of exploring a second point of view, Lissa’s. Hahn achieved this by including the diary entries Lissa made recounting the events of the story. Hahn was not as successful, however, when it came to using the seeting of the book to create the feel of a ghost story. While there are mentions of storms during some of the dramatic moments, including when Miss Lilian thinks Lissa is Diana and attacks her, more dark images could have been included to make the setting spookier: Leafless trees with twisted branches, haggard beasts in place of deer and fox families.

I haven't read a ghost story in a long time and this one was excellent.