Andres moves with his parents, who are scientists, to the town of Kersville. His next door neighbor is Desmond, who informs him that his new house is haunted! Andres doesn't believe this at first, but when strange things start happening, he joins Desmond in his ghost hunting business (run, of course, out of the garage). The boys end up having a ghost named Zax who wants to stick around but not cause mischief.
Strengths: I am hoping that the actual book is about the same trim size as a shorter middle grade novel, since the page set up for these is perfect for my struggling readers, who don't want to carry around "baby books". These readers are asking more and more for scary stories. Aside from Preller's Scary Tales, there aren't a lot of those available. The nonwhite main characters, as well as the scientist parents, are a welcome change in the world of early chapter books.
Weaknesses: The pages turned very slowly in the e copy, so I lost my train of thought on character development and plot. What I really think: One illustration at the beginning gave me hope that maybe Desmond and his family were space aliens, but I was disappointed. Definitely purchasing.
Recommended by: Karen Yingling, Library Media Specialist, Ohio USA
See more of her recommendations: msyinglingreads.blogspot.com
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Meet Desmond Cole! A fearless eight-year-old who runs his own ghost patrol, looking for ghosts, monsters, and mischief makers everywhere. Oh, and he just so happens to be my new best friend…and thank goodness! Because I’m afraid of everything.
Welcome to Kersville, a town with a spooky history and a collection of ghosts and spirits who are major mischief-makers. Most kids spend their days without ever seeing or dealing with a ghost, but some kids get stuck with a haunt. When that happens, they call Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol. Desmond is the hall monitor of ghosts and monsters. There’s no job too spooky, icky, or risky for Desmond.
I’m not like that at all. My name’s Andres Miedoso. I’m Desmond’s best friend. We do everything together…including catch ghosts. Seems cool, right? There’s only one problem: I’m afraid of everything.
With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, the Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol chapter books are perfect for emerging readers!--from the publisher
128 pages (lots of illustrations) 9781534410398 Ages 7-10
Other titles in this series: Ghosts Don't Ride Bikes Do They, Book 2?; Surf's Up Creepy Stuff, Book 3; Night of the Zombie Zookeeper, Book 4; The Scary Library Shusher, Book 5; Major Monster Mess, Book 6
