The Haunting

More Middle-Grade March Madness.
My inner 10-year-old would give this 5 stars, the adult in me gives it a “meh” but I am not the intended audience, so young Me wins.
I can't tell you how many times I chose a book as a child with a creepy cover and an ominous copy on the back cover only to be disappointed. I'm looking at YOU, Nancy Drew. So often, there was never a ghost, there was always some mystery solved by pulling a rubber mask off the face of some very human villain, a la Scooby Doo, and it was all so very disappointing.
Well, Duga delivers. There is a pretty terrifying ghost skipping around this gothic, isolated mansion. It causes shadows to bleed from the ceiling, bookcases to topple, and fires to start themselves. We have some useless adults and one very brave mutt. This is the kind of story I wanted to read as a kid.
I would call it “starter horror” if this gives a kid nightmares, well then we are not ready for horror.