The Haunting by Lindsey Duga
Genres: Ghosts, Horror
Intended Age Group: Middle Grade
Publisher: Scholastic
Edition: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-338-50651-8
Rating: 3.5/5
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Description from the Book
Emily’s dreams are finally coming true: The kind and wealthy Thorntons want to adopt her and whisk her away to a new life at Blackthorn Manor
At first, life is wonderful. But as Emily explores the grand estate, strange things start happening all around her. It’s almost as if someone-or something-wants her gone.
Now it’s up to Emily to untangle a dark family secret hiding in her new home-before the life of her dreams becomes a real nightmare!
Personal & Info
I’m looking to expand my collection of children’s books. I found this and a few other short spooky stories super cheap. It’s October, so I figure it’s a good time to read them.
Characters
Emily, the main character is a twelve year old orphan. Her prospects for the future are grim as she looks forward to going to a work house when she’s old enough.
Archie is Emily’s dog. She raised him since he was a small puppy.
Mr. and Mrs. Thornton are the nice couple who adopt Emily.
Miss Greer is the cook and housekeeper of the Thornton home, which is called Blackthorn.
Kat is a not so nice friend of Emily’s. She reminds her much of a mean girl at the orphanage.
Story & Thoughts
The story starts off grim. Emily is an orphan at an orphanage. She has no hopes of being adopted because she’s older and nobody considers her pretty. Supposedly everyone wants the little blond blue-eyed girls.
As the synopsis says, she finally gets adopted. She hit the jackpot. It’s possibly her last chance at being adopted, and the family is nice, and well off. They even let her keep her dog friend.
Things are strange right off the bat upon arriving at her new home. Emily sees creepy things she’s not sure are actually there. The house, while massive and beautiful, is unkempt.
The story progresses day to day with strange occurrences giving the reader time to speculate. It’s easy to figure it out before Emily. The title and book description practically spell it out for you, as well as some things that people let slip early on. I was only off on one detail, but all my other guesses were spot on.
I never know what to expect when I read horror, because I don’t read the genre often. This one has common haunting tropes. It’s relatively mellow with slice of life and creepy bits thrown in for the first three quarters. it doesn’t want to reveal anything too quickly. There’s a punch in the “feels” in the conclusion that I was not expecting. I anticipated the plot, but not the emotional value of the portrayal.
Honestly, I’m surprised I like it as much as I do. It’s a simple, but effective, short, ghost story. This author apparently writes a small variety of spooky stories. I wouldn’t go out of my way to get more, but if I see them around I’ll probably grab them.