Who Let the Ghosts Out?

October 1, 2004
Gr 4-6 -Stine's newest series is sure to delight his fans. In Who Let the Ghosts Out? readers meet Nicky and Tara, who are trying to figure out why they are suddenly ghosts and what has happened to their parents. They live in the closet of a boy named Max, a would-be magician who is having parent, brother, and teacher troubles. The three team up to help one another try to solve their individual and collective problems and take on an evil spirit named Phears. In the second book, Phears returns and tries to force Max to help him capture the ghost siblings. Stine's forte has always been taking ordinary characters and placing them in weird situations, and these two stories are no exception. This time, however, there is more humor than in the author's previous books. The mood is much more lighthearted and the pacing is slower with fewer terrifying events.-Molly S. Kinney, Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Copyright 2004 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2005
Brainy Max meets brother-and-sister ghosts Nicky and Tara, who are looking for clues about their past. Alternately narrated by Max and Nicky (with one chapter jarringly related by an evil ghost in pursuit of the spectral siblings), these superficial tales feature tiresome cliffhangers and sitcomlike scenes of Max causing confusion as he speaks aloud to the invisible ghosts in public settings.

(Copyright 2005 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)