{Synopsis} – Welcome to Spooksville, where weird is normal. This paperback bind-up includes the first three books in New York Times bestselling author Christopher Pike’s Spooksville series.
Adam has just moved to the small town of Springville. The first day there, he meets Sally, who tells him the city’s real name is Spooksville, because of all the spooky things that go on in it. Adam doesn’t believe her…at first.
With Sally and his new friends, Watch and Cindy, Adam begins to explore the town and the area around it. Before he knows it, he’s met a witch, seen a ghost, and been hunted by mysterious cave-dwelling creatures!
This paperback edition contains the first three Spooksville books: The Secret Path, The Howling Ghost, and The Haunted Cave.
{My thoughts} – This is a neat little three book combination of the first three books to the Spooksville series. It makes it easier to read them in one go and helps to do the hook line and sinker to the reader. Gets the reader interested and hooked on the series. I really enjoyed reading it and look forward to the rest of the series in the future.
– {The Secret Path} – Adam is a new resident to Spooksville from Kansas City. He and his dad are moving things out of the moving truck into his house when his dad hurts his back and sends Adam to the local 7/11 to get some cold sodas. While Adam is walking home he meets an unusual girl named Sally.
Sally is full of all sort of interesting stories about the town in which Adam is now living in. Adam is skeptical about nearly everything she says as they are walking back to his house. Sally meets his parents and then they go out to explore the town since Adam hadn’t really seen much of it since he got there. Sally takes him to meet her friend Watch which is another strange character and then the three of them go to meet the old mayor. The old mayor tells them a riddle and if they can solve the riddle they will find The Secret Path.
Adam, Sally and Watch decide to try and figure out the riddle and that’s what they spend their day doing. However, it isn’t the sort of riddle you’d expect and it isn’t answered in ways that would appear logical all at once. What happens once they figure out the entire riddle is quite and interesting occurrence.
I really enjoyed reading this book, because I like the slight horror, slight mystery, slight spooky aspect of books. I think any child that enjoys books like this and want to go on a different kind of adventure could easily be entertained by these books. The great thing about them is they are short so depending on a child’s reading speed they should be able to read a book a day or more. If they get sucked into the story I can see it being much much more then just a book a day.
– {The Howling Ghost} – Watch, Adam and Sally are introduced to a new character in this book. Her name is Cindy and she claims that her brother was taken by a ghost. It’s not too far fetched for the three to decide to help her because they believe that is what in deed had happened given the weird things that seem to happen in Spooksville. Like Adam, Cindy and her family had recently moved in to live in the house her father had inherited. That sad thing is she lost her father because he died and now her brother got kidnapped by a ghost. I can’t imagine how that could make anyone feel other then dead inside.
The four of them decide that they are going to try and find out what happened to Cindy’s brother. They start tracing clues and going places. They look for what makes sense and then they try to put it all together so that they can better understand the gravity of the situation. I don’t think anyone could truly understand the gravity of any situation that seems to take place in the town.
I do like how the characters seem to find adventure and mystery. I like how the story is written and how it pulls you in and I am sure anyone that has read them will feel similar. I also like how they are short and fairly quick and easy to read. There are some days where I really want to read but I don’t want to be stuck with a book that will take hours to finish. These don’t take long at all and are always wrapped up with a nice little bow at the end so that you have closure to the story but there is still room for it to be added to. I think that is part of what makes them very enjoyable to read.
– {The Haunted Cave} – Cindy, Adam, Sally and Watch decide to go explore a haunted cave. When they get there Sally and Watch don’t want to enter. Watch ends up staying outside while the other three go inside. Sally is less then impressed that she was more or less bullied into entering and exploring the cave. While they are near the entrance Sally and Cindy get into a dispute and then somehow the caves opening closes and they are stuck inside. Watch and Adam try to figure out how to stop it from closing all the way but each of their efforts appear to end in vain.
Watch runs off in an attempt to get them help and find a way to get them out of the cave. The other three wonder around the cave endlessly trying to find another way out. They have quite and adventure. It’s always fun to read books that take you on an adventure and leave you wondering what is going to be happening next. It’s always fun to enjoy the book you are reading and know that when it does inevitably come to an end that there is still more to the story and that the story will continue on, that the characters aren’t done yet and that they still have places to go and things to do. These are the kind of stories that I enjoy the most. I enjoy being able to read and get to know the characters. I enjoy getting to know their personalities and I enjoy seeing them evolve.
I think any child that likes a little adventure can enjoy these books. I also think they are a good series for any child that likes Goosebump books because to me they are similar in fashion. They have their spooky aspect, but it is a light spooky it isn’t the kind of spooky that can be considered terribly scary. These are rather short books that don’t take long to read, and would be excellent choices for short car rides, or plane trips. They easily suck you into the story and keep you wondering what’s coming next and for me that helps to make some of the more entertaining stories to read. I love books where I crave more and want to read more, because those books are the one’s that usually have the ability to stick with you long after you have finished reading them.
Final Conclusion: 5 Star Rating.
