The Ghost at Dawn’s House
The Baby-Sitters Club #9
by Ann M. Martin
My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Children’s classic
For complete transparency, I’ll say up front that I read a lot of this series when I was a kid/pre-teen. And at the time, my name was the same as the founder of the BSC (with the first name spelled slightly differently). Nostalgia will hugely affect my reviews for this series, and I have no plans to try to be objective.
In this book, Dawn reads some ghost stories, hears some strange noises in the wall, and convinces herself that a guy that disappeared in the area a long time ago is probably now a ghost in the secret passage she found in her house. I mean…why the ghost would be leaving food in the passageway, I don’t know. I still don’t feel any connection to Dawn, but letting her imagination run wild in this story isn’t exactly that surprising for a girl her age, especially in the time period this is from. The Pike family is baffling to me—they have a ton of kids and let them do whatever they want…except when they need to impose rules after all. I just do not get how this is a good way to raise kids.
I was surprised at the mystery in this book being left somewhat open. Kids who are fans of spooky stories might enjoy being able to come up with their own explanation to some of the happenings that aren’t explained (and apparently, it never is). Overall, this is a good addition to the series. Whether or not this book will translate well to kids and pre-teens now, I couldn’t say. I wish I had thought to start reading this series to/with my daughter when she was around 8-10, because I think she would have enjoyed it, and we could have discussed the good and the bad of the books.
Find out more about The Ghost at Dawn’s House
If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!
