A World Full of Ghosts

A World Full of Ghosts is a picture book by Charis Cotter, with illustrations by Marc Mongeau. It covers some of the types of ghosts found in stories from around the world. La Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) in Mexico and Halloween are also covered. The book doesn't give the pronunciation for Samhain (Sow or Sah-win) or that 'hallow' is another word for saint.

There are also thirteen ghost stories claimed to be true. A map of the word gives the page number for the ghosts of a region mentioned in the book. The scariness of the ghosts is rated by skulls at the top of the page, from one skull to three.

Some ghosts should be quite frightening to those on whom they'd like to wreak vengeance. Some are helpful (I wouldn't mind having one show more of those Silky ghosts who clean the house while the household sleeps). Some are just sad, such as the hungry ghosts who have no family left to feed them, the outcasts in life doomed to wander in death, or the unbaptized children who just want to go to heaven. The ones who eat souls scared me the most.

These are the ghosts covered: Afrit, Ahkiyyini, Aumakua, Awiri, Banshee, Brahmadaitya, Chindi, Duppy, Egui, Ibambo, Lapu, Liekkio, Nuggle, Rhea, Sea Ghost, Shojo, Silky, Spunkie, Stone Ghosts, the Wandering Gaucho, and Yurei.

This book should be interesting for ghost fans from mid-elementary school age on up. show less

This mixture of legends and eye-witness accounts leaves readers wondering if they are reading fact or fiction. The dark, ominous artwork adds to the fun of this international Who's Who of ghosts. The warning at the beginning of the book and the scariness rating of each story will entice readers to read-on. Suitable for Halloween and/or legends of the world study.