Who Let the Ghosts Out? (Mostly Ghostly)
by R.L. Stine
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Book Summary Information
Author: R.L. StineEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2004-08-24
ISBN: 0385746636
Number of pages: 144
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Book Reviews of Who Let the Ghosts Out? (Mostly Ghostly)
Book Review: Not a Stellar Start to this Series
Summary: 3 Stars
In this first installment of the Mostly Ghostly we are introduced to Max, an 11 year old boy who has got some issues! He thinks his house his haunted (which it is, but no one is his family believes him); he's got an overbearing, bully of a brother; a father whose only interested in how macho his son's are and cares nothing at all that Max is smart, Aaron his best friend who takes laziness to unheard of heights; and a mom who isn't much of a character at all, other than being a foil for the dad. Max seems to live perpetually under the threat of being sent off to military school if he doesn't start acting in the way his father thinks is appropriate...meaning he should be into sports and spend less time on school work and all that thinking.
Poor Max...he's in for a whole lot of trouble when Nicky and Tara show up because only Max can see these two ghosts and they are a bit confused themselves. They don't know how they died, they keep disappearing, there is a REALLY mean and violent ghost trying to capture them...and this ghost makes Max's life hell in the process. This first book in the Mostly Ghostly series sets up, what appears to be a rather long and involved mystery...where are Nicky and Tara's parents, how did they die and what's the deal with Phears? I suspect it will be many, many volumes before we find out. Mostly Ghostly is ok, but not great. The characters are all stereotypical and lackluster, Max is not all that bright and I just didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would. I mean who are we kidding, this story is told in the extreme...Max is SO ostracized by the other kids...he's SO picked upon (quite violently and in front of his parents, who can usually only manage a lame...oh, stop it) by his jock brother, and SO picked upon further by his jock father...because it's apparently more important to be manly and into sports than it is to have a brain and, oh...get good grades, and his mom...ug, what a dishwater character...constantly gushing Maxie this and that...YUCK!
What gets me is that Max is kinda whiney and in the end, isn't even all that honorable of a character. What exactly are we supposed to be picking up here...this isn't like the Nightmare Room series where each book is a stand alone story. In the Mostly Ghostly series, each book ends with a "To be Continued" and builds from the one before it, so it's not like the author HAD to make the point so bluntly and in an in your face way...he has plenty of time to build characters from the ground up...but he doesn't. He just stacks the deck with stereotypical icons and rushes on with the story. I'll read a few more to see if I want to continue the series. Girl seemed to like this more than me...but then it plays right into kids belief that their parents are mean and nasty and that no one understands them...not really the best message to be sending out for a very long series of books....here's hoping!
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