Author Dan Poblocki’s prologue to The Ghost of Graylock is steeped in atmosphere and reads just like a classic campfire-telling of a ghost story. Filled with a creepy and remote location (abandoned sanitarium in the woods), non-attentive guardians (the aunts), and not entirely bright kids (as required for all plot-progression in scary stories), Mr. Poblocki delivers a traditional ghost story that is aimed squarely at middle-schoolers. With strong female and male characters, this book should appeal to a wide group of readers, but only if they like ghost stories, as this book keeps the hauntings coming fast and furious. Dan Poblocki knows how to create atmosphere and tension without using the horror card, and the positive relationship between siblings Neil and Bree was a nice touch. If you are a ghost-story fan, put this author on your reading list.
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language: 2 religious exclamations.
Violence/Gore: Legend about murder and ghosts told; report of bloodstains; character injures self on door, resulting in nose bleed; extended frightening scene; character injures self, mention of blood; extended scene of nightmare involving an insane asylum and a relative; a few separate scary/frightening brief scenes where characters see, dream, or experience strange things; brief frightening dream about drowning; an image is seen with blood on it; characters experience a vision of death, mention of blood; extended chase scene with intent to harm/kill resulting in injury and death.
Sex/Nudity: None
Mature Subject Matter:
Paranormal, ghosts, trespassing, mental illness/depression, murder, separation
Alcohol / Drug Use:
None
