The Elevator Ghost by Glen Huser (review)

The Blatchford Arms is a quirky little place, an old apartment complex that’s filled with eccentric families and rumored to be haunted. It’s therefore fitting that it’s on Halloween night that Carolina Giddle, “experienced babysitter, mah-jong instructor, and vegetarian caterer” and excellent storyteller of ghostly tales, moves into Apartment 713. In the episodic chapters that follow her arrival, Carolina babysits for several of Blatchford’s families, taming mischievous twins Dwight and Dwayne Fergus with a story about a skeleton and a prank gone awry, defusing little Angelo Bellini’s temper tantrums with a tale of ghostly at-sea antics, and helping timid Hubert Croop overcome his fear of the dark with an account of shadow-making and monster-taming. The short chapters, each with a self-contained scare, and the mix of humor and gentle spookiness make this a perfect classroom readaloud, and tellers might even be inspired by Carolina to set the mood with lighting, snacks, and a pet tarantula (or not). Innerst’s black and white art has a creepy flatness to the big-headed figures, which complements the more absurd elements of Carolina’s tales but still lacks depth. Have this on hand for Halloween week or whenever kids want a fun but not too frightening tall tale.