"The Hungry Ghosts" by Julius Lester is a creative story about a boy named Malcom David, who hears ghosts outside his bedroom window at night. With a curious bone, he sneaks out of his house the next night and into the cemetery. There he sees the ghosts and learns that they are hungry. He tries to help them in their quest for food. Turns out, they were not people ghosts; they were actually fruit ghosts!
I like Lester's writing. I like his verbs and the fact that he uses adverbs sparingly. For instance, I saw powerful verbs like "rippled", "rolled", "sparkled", "flattened" and "swelled".
This is a fun book for kids. I like that it has no social agenda, no subtle political bone to pick. It's just sheer fun. Books like this encapsulate childhood at its best.
Lester's whimsical writing stimulates a young child's imagination. For instance, when describing the ghosts' departure toward the end of the book, he writes, "The shaft of light shrank and rolled itself into a ball. The disc flattened and rose into the air and began spinning around and around. The sparkling lights danced toward Malcolm David. They covered him, and he sparkled like he was covered in diamonds." Now how's that for a dramatic exit?
Excellent story. I can't imagine how any young child wouldn't be completely enthralled by this.
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