egOnce and a while you come across a book that reminds you why great books make great readers, and sometimes great story-tellers too! The Elevator Ghost is just that kind of book. Don’t save it for next Halloween. Read it now.

The children of the Blatchford Arms apartment building are a wild bunch, especially just before Halloween. But the newly arrived resident, a Southern-Belle named Caroline Giddle knows just how to tame them. She tells them ghost stories.

Caroline is not your usual babysitter. She drives a Volkswagen Beetle that is covered with trinkets and has a pet tarantula she calls Chiquita. But she knows exactly the right story to tell each child to calm their nerves and help them overcome their fears too. So unruly twins Dwight and Dwayne Fergus get the story of what happens when boys steal a skeleton’s foot. Hubert Croop who is afraid of the dark gets the story of The Mountain King and Shadow Killer. Elisa, Galina and Luba, children of an artist who draw on the walls, get the story of the Scaly Batmonster of Scuggins Creek. And screaming Angelo Bellini gets a story that’s just his size, the story of the Tantramolos, so he can understand what happens when one is prone to too many tantrums. But the best story of all has to do with the Ghost of Blatchford Arms because it’s not just a story. It’s true. Carolina knows this because she can talk to ghosts! And she gets to hear the facts of this story first hand when she has a nice visit with the Elevator ghost and her long dead Aunt Beulah!

Carolina is a modern day Mary Poppins crossed with the ghost whisperer. Don’t be surprised if she inspires readers young and old to tell a few ghost stories of their own.