Boo Book: Never Kick a Ghost and Other Silly Chillers by Judy Sierra

HERE LIES THE BODY
OF ANNA, OUR SISTER.
SHE WAS JUST FINE
UNTIL A VAMPIRE KISSED HER.

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Judy Sierra's newest I-Can-Read book, Never Kick a Ghost and Other Silly Chillers (I Can Read Book 2)(Harper, 2011) offers the early reader a a potpourri of funny/scary stories, a spooky clapping game, and some very funny graveyard inscriptions suitable for the scary season storytime, campouts, or sleepovers where tales of ghosts and goblins are required reading.

The stories include "The Skeleton Bride," an abridged version of the folktale in which a bridal party (in this case newlyweds Blackbeard the Pirate and South Sea Sue) inexplicably decide to play hide-and-seek aboard ship. Sue conceals herself inside a sea trunk which accidentally locks as she closes the lid. An attack from an enemy buccaneer ship begins and Sue and trunk sink overboard, only to be found long after by a treasure diver and opened to reveal a skeletal Sue still in bridal dress. Other stories are likewise recycled appropriately moldy oldies, "Never Kick A Ghost" and "The Big Slobbery Monster." Pasquale Constantin provides the illustrations of ghosts and skeletons in a not-too-spooky style and this inexpensive little paperback offers fun along with a bit of beginning reading practice.

Be sure to pair this one with Alvin Schwartz's classic In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories (I Can Read! Reading 2) for an incomparable collage of spooky lore for the youngest independent readers.