Arts Publications

Random Publishing Group

Children's Bookwatch, Jan, 2005

1745 Broadway, New York NY 10019

www.randomhouse.com/kids

Four easier readers for kids in grades 3-6 provide chapter books and simpler, attractive reads for kids a step out of the picturebook world. Eye-catching indeed is R.L. Stine's Mostly Ghostly: Who Let The Ghosts Out? (0385746636, $6.95), a story of Max Doyle who has two ghosts living in his bedroom. The ghosts say only Max can help them fight the most fearsome creature in the ghost world in this spirited story. Mary Pope Osborne's Haunted Castle On Hallow's Eve (0375825215, $11.95) tells of a dark castle and a magician who needs someone to enter and solve the mystery of how the castle became haunted. It's up to modern kids Jack and Annie, with their background solving mysteries, to investigate in this satisfyingly spooky encounter. Barbara Park's Junie B. First Grader: Shipwrecked (0375828044, $11.95) tells of a special play put on by Room One, about explorers looking for the New World. Junie thinks she might be the store of the production--only problems keep happening with her role, actors catch the flu, and competitors try to take over. How can she retain her role as Chief Actress? A zany tale evolves. Joelle Stolz's Shadows Of Ghadames (0385731043, $15.95) is set in Libya and tells of a daughter who watches her merchant father depart on one of his famous caravan expeditions. Malika longs to read and travel but all she has to look forward to at age 12 is marriage like all Muslim women--until a stranger enters her home and changes all their lives. A fine story of 19th century Libya.