HAUNTED HOUSES:
Are You Scared Yet? Series
Illustrated by Kelly Murphy & Antoine J. D. Revoy
by Robert D. San Souci
Christy Ottaviano Books /
Henry Holt Books for Young Readers
Ages: 9 - 12
Grades 4 - 7
Hardcover
ISBN-13: 978-0-8050-8750-5
Price: $17.99
Page count: 288 pages
Dimensions: 5.5" x 7.75 "
Illustrations: black & white
August 2010

Here's the first book in scare-master Robert D. San Souci's new macabre series. In his winning style, he serves up ten chilling tales about untraditional haunted houses: a mansion full of pirate treasure, a ghost trapped in a mysterious dollhouse, a boy whose vacation house comes complete with people-eating spiders, and many more. But beware because not all of the protagonists in these stories get out alive. A must-have collection for middle-grade readers who are fans of the bone-chiller genre.

Reviews
"As the title indicates, within this collection readers will find some ten haunted abodes, including a fun house that is not so much fun, a dollhouse, a Japanese tea house and a doghouse, among others. Although the spirits described vary from benign to downright malignant, they are all very much real -- no fraudulent spooks here. San Souci moves his readers around the country and from one social milieu to another. A Detroit gang banger, a girl who is newly moved to Maine and a Latino boy whose family is on a pilgrimage to his artist great-grandmother's former home all encounter haunts of varying types. These original tales are not for the fainthearted. Many of the stories' protagonists end their tales dead -- or worse. By turns poignant and downright scary, this is a solid addition for stouthearted middle-grade readers. ( Short stories/horror, 8-12 )." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Featuring 10 tales of houses haunted by things that growl, smother, lurk, slither, or go bump in both night and day, San Souci's latest collection has a scare factor somewhere between eerie and creepy. Some familiar summer-camp stories get multicultural augmentation, including “La Casa de las Muertas” and “Chimera House,” starring Little D from inner-city Detroit , while others involve a demon in the teahouse, spiders and dust creatures that take over the world, and a dollhouse looking for new “inhabitants.” For a nice change of pace, there are even a couple of ghost stories with happy endings. As often happens in a collection, the quality of the stories varies, but there are no clunkers, and the best are outright skinpricklers. Offer this to those who already know San Souci's work or who want follow-ups for Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series, should it somehow stay on the shelf long enough to want company." -- Cindy Welch, Booklist

Gr 4-8 –These 10 spooky stories include a classic Halloween scare: visitors get their admission fee of $25 back if they make it to the top floor of a haunted house–but can they? In another, the primary occupant of a dollhouse is a ghost of a child who needs help moving from one consciousness to another. San Souci also writes about an abandoned teahouse with ghosts, a Ouija board that foretells a confusing yet doomed future, and a mother's spirit who is searching for her missing son. The stories are well paced and satisfyingly startling. While some are better written than others, this book won't stay on the shelves for long. Murphy and Revoy's black-and-white illustrations heighten the fright factor, making San Souci's collection even more riveting. –Patty Saldenberg, George Jackson Academy, New York City, School Library Journal

Robert D. San Souci is the award-winning author of the Short & Shivery series of tales, as well as many picture books based on folktales from around the world. He is the author of Dare to Be Scared 4, Triple-Dare to Be Scared, Double-Dare to Be Scared and the original Dare to Be Scared, named a Children's Choice for 2004 by the Children's Book Council. He lives in San Francisco.