The Secret Path

“Listen to Mr. Realist,” Sally mocked. “He doesn’t believe in ghosts even though a tree almost ate him an hour ago.”


During the ‘80s and ‘90s Christopher Pike wrote some really good books for young adults, and also for much younger kids. The Spooksville series is aimed at the later. His young adult books were marked by some good writing, and his content appealed to teenagers who were a bit more mature than the average young adult. Here, Pike began a marvelously fun series for pre-teen kids which has a great deal of charm and humor mixed in with the spookiness.

Parents need not worry — at least with the first entry — about it being too dark. This is miles milder than Harry Potter, just to give you a reference point. Pike show more sets a swift pace and while young children will be enthralled with all the wild and weird aspects of Springville/Spooksville, and there is some mild danger, the tone has a fun bend to it. Children will sense that their pint-sized heroes are going to be okay — this is a series, after all — which allows them to enjoy the thrills without taking them “too” seriously.

The Secret Path begins the series, as twelve-year-old Adam Freeman has just moved to Springville. The opening scene helping his dad unload the moving fan is charming, immediately endearing the reader — young or old — to Adam and the setting. Adam has just moved to Springville from Kansas City, and when his dad sends him to the local store for a six-pack of Coke he meets the tall-for-her-age and precocious Sally Wilcox. She is immediately smitten with Adam and it’s quite charming how Pike writes the kids and the way they interact. Sally explains to Adam about the town, and all the weird things that happen in Spooksville. When a skeptical Adam asks Sally how long she’s lived here, he gets this response:

“Twelve years. All my life. I’m one of the lucky ones.” — Sally

“You mean, it’s really neat living in Springville?” — Adam

“No. I mean I’m lucky to be alive still. Not all kids last twelve years in Spooksville.” — Sally

Despite the ominous tone, Pike injects a lot of humor into the story, most notably through the interactions of Adam, Sally, and Watch. Even as an adult, I found myself laughing several times at their dialog, which rang true for nice kids this age. Apparently the town was founded long ago by a witch named Madeline Templeton. She is related to Ann Templeton, who lives in a castle and may have a small hold on Adam.

Adam’s trip to the market quickly turns into a quest by the trio of friends to find the secret path. Following the riddle given them by Bum, their search to discover the alternate Spooksvilles take them to the blooded tree, and of course, the cemetery. It really gets fun when the trio become separated. Can they escape a black knight and live skeletons? There is a dungeon, and some neat stuff with an hourglass before it’s all over, or perhaps just beginning.

This is the start for Adam, Sally and Watch, and it’s sweetly done, moving quickly so that a child in the 8-12 age range won’t be bored. It may in fact seem tame to children at the older end of that range, considering all that’s been published since Harry Potter, but I feel that’s part of its charm. Despite the weirdness and the crazy supernatural elements, there is almost a retro feel to this series — yet not so retro that today’s kids won’t enjoy it. I enjoyed Spooksville even as an adult reader, and think a lot of kids will love this. I’ll be going through the series, and The Howling Ghost is the next one on my list. Great fun.

“Just another day in Spooksville. You’ll get used to Sundays like this.” — Sally

“I hope not.” — Adam show less

Twelve year old Adam Freeman and his family have just moved from Kansas City to the small town of Springville on the West Coast. He isn't happy about the move, but on his first day in town he meets Sally and Watch, two kids who have grown up in Springville, who inform Adam that the locals know the place as "Spooksville" because of the high occurrence of supernatural phenomenon. Sally and Watch introduce Adam to Bum, the former mayor who knows lots of secrets about the town, including how to find the secret path that leads to another Spooksville dimension, one that includes hungry skeletons and a powerful witch.

{The Secret Path} – Adam is a new resident to Spooksville from Kansas City. He and his dad are moving things out of the moving truck into his house when his dad hurts his back and sends Adam to the local 7/11 to get some cold sodas. While Adam is walking home he meets an unusual girl named Sally.

Sally is full of all sort of interesting stories about the town in which Adam is now living in. Adam is skeptical about nearly everything she says as they are walking back to his house. Sally meets his parents and then they go out to explore the town since Adam hadn’t really seen much of it since he got there. Sally takes him to meet her friend Watch which is another strange character and then the three of them go to meet the old mayor. The show more old mayor tells them a riddle and if they can solve the riddle they will find The Secret Path.

Adam, Sally and Watch decide to try and figure out the riddle and that’s what they spend their day doing. However, it isn’t the sort of riddle you’d expect and it isn’t answered in ways that would appear logical all at once. What happens once they figure out the entire riddle is quite and interesting occurrence.

I really enjoyed reading this book, because I like the slight horror, slight mystery, slight spooky aspect of books. I think any child that enjoys books like this and want to go on a different kind of adventure could easily be entertained by these books. The great thing about them is they are short so depending on a child’s reading speed they should be able to read a book a day or more. If they get sucked into the story I can see it being much much more then just a book a day. show less

Adam believes moving to Springville (aka Spooksville) will be dull—until he meets Sally and Watch and follows them down the "Secret Path" in the graveyard. Through a mysterious doorway, they enter alternate versions of their own town—filled with spider monsters, living skeletons, witches, and more horrors beyond imagination. This eerie, world-jumping thriller kicks off the Spooksville series with suspense, supernatural twists, and pulse-pounding discoveries.

After binge watching the first season of Spooksville, I just had to read the first book in the series. Although quite different from the series (aren't they always) this was a fun book that I could see kids enjoying. It is creepy and just a bit gross in places. It would be perfect for Halloween reading.Adam, Salley and Watch are too much fun.

I'll be generous and go with 3 stars. The audio of this was mixed. Watch's voice was particular irritating. This isn't the best story in the series that I've tried.

I had been trying to find the name of this series for ages and finally come across it. I don't think I could read it now but I loved it when I was young.