How a Weirdo/Ghost

by Patricia Windsor

Book Overview

Martha braves class ridicule to befriend a "weirdo," who enriches her life with his Ouija board and proves to be a better friend than those she lost.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0440400945
• ISBN13: 9780440400943
• Release Date: July 1988
• Publisher: Yearling Books
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Age Range: 5 to 11 years
• Grade Range: Kindergarten to Grade 6

Customer Reviews

Fun book with playful suspense and nice characterizations

I found this book in the attic when clearing it out and looking for old books from my childhood. I was in my late teens at the time, and well past the intended age group, but somehow this book just jumped out at me. I read through it, somehow didn't finish it, and put it in the bookshelf, to be forgotten. Until recently. At the ripe old age of 23, I decided to pick this book up and read it through, and I must say, it's very good. The characters are mostly believable, and they definitely act much like children did back when I was a kid, and even now. The way kids all decide to ignore or ostracize someone, the way they put pressure on everyone else to do the same - it's all there. Teddy is the sort of boy that I was at his age to some degree, and Martha is understandably annoyed by him and embarassed to be seen with him. But she warms up to Teddy, partly because of external circumstance beyond her control, and partly through her own willingness to change. Martha is a likable character, and yet one with realistic character flaws, which she becomes aware of. Beyond the changing relationships of the kids, however, there is a fun mystery to be had - several, in fact, and all of them are solved, at least partially, with the help of Teddy's Ouija board, which allows them to communicate with ghosts. The mysteries range from the innocuous (finding a missing will), to the more serious (stopping a thief), yet there is never any threat of actual danger. The encounters with the ghosts are more playfully suspenseful than genuinely scary in any way, and the story moves along at a brisk pace - one that is almost too fast for my adult tastes, but that I probably would have loved if I were ten. I'd definitely recommend this little-known gem to anyone, young or old. It is non-violent, yet fun and exciting in its own unique way.