Spooky America, The Haunted South, bite-sized ghost nuggets for 9 and up

As I child I remember one of the most popular books in our elementary school library was about the ghosts of North Carolina. I don’t recall the name of it, but every kid had read it, was privy to someone else reading it aloud, or supposedly had seen the ghost in question. Every geographic area has a ghost book like this that enthralls readers in third grade and up. The Ghostly Tales of The Haunted South is a collection of hauntings, sightings, and bumps in the night that have raised spirits in the southern United States.

It’s not a complete listing of legends and ghosts, but it does remind me of the book that I loved so many years ago. The Haunted South separates its stories by each state and covers the 11 that make up the southern U.S, which includes many of the older states that one would expect to have cool ghost stories. All of the pages have spooky, gray tree limbs that border the tops of every two of them. There are a handful of real-life photographs from areas that set the scene for some of the geographic places. Sadly the book doesn’t have photographic evidence of ghosts, disembodied Civil War Generals, actors who won’t leave the stage, or anything else.

Where the book succeeds, is in speaking directly to those third-grade students who can read well, and want to be scared just a little bit. Actually, scared, may not be the best adjective to describe the stories in The Haunted South. They’re spooky and fun to read, which is quite different for some when compared to scary. These are stories that kids will tell each other under the guise of “wanna hear a scary story?”, but are really more entertaining than they are ‘scary. It’s the difference between a movie that’s out to scare you and a real-life, ghost special you’d watch on Freeform. The latter will have a vibe that’s spooky and fun but might allude to something scary that your imagination can wallow in.

The stories run the gamut from Civil War-era tales to more modern ones with their roots in the 1900s. Longer stories might be as long as eight pages and shorter ones as brief as three. Young readers will still be able to get through those longer chapters, understand the stories and appropriately have them apply the year-round spooks. The stories are informational in nature and provide overviews of 24 places and circumstances that led to the haunting that people have reported.

When older readers are enjoying the book they may think to themselves that they’d like to experience the stories on an older level. Spooky America is a series of books that were adapted from the Haunted America series by the same author, Alan Brown. That was the case for us and we’d like to seek out some of Brown’s other tales that might amp up the scares or details that were omitted in this book. Even if the ‘scares’ aren’t increased, the details or otherwise spooky vibe would be fun to read if you’re a fan of ghosts or the supernatural.

If your young reader is a fan of The Haunted South they’d probably also enjoy one of Brown’s other six books that are squarely aimed at upper elementary through mid-middle school. His writing style is smart and treats those ages with the grounded reality that they want. The supernatural is an area that everyone might not believe in, but readers, especially younger ones really want to explore. The Haunted South is a book that does this in a way kids will enjoy and parents can get behind too.

Spooky America, The Ghostly Tales of The Haunted South by Alan Brown and available on Arcadia Children’s Books, an imprint of Arcadia Publishing.

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