Friday, April 01, 2011

The Haunting: Ebram's Story by Esther Locascio

The main character Ebram moves to a new home in Texas. Shortly after moving, he finds out that a little girl who used to live in his house before him haunts the house. His brothers and sisters can all hear the little girl talk in their heads. The little girl sometimes does strange things, like lifting things up in the air and moving things around. This book is also about the struggles that Ebram has fitting in at his new school. He eventually becomes a Shrouda (a group of students who have many Christian faiths. They also try to improve the community and help the needy). He tries to carry out his own plan to help make the community a better place. Ebram also has to face bullies at school. This book tells how Ebram gets to know the little girl and how he adapts to his new school. I think that this book's genre fits in with realistic fiction and supernatural.

I thought that this book could have been a little more supernatural, and the supernatural element of it wasn't very scary. I did enjoy the book it was pretty good. I also found myself daydreaming a little bit during some slow parts of the book. I wish that it had been a little scarier and suspenseful. The writer did make me feel like I was in the book with the characters, and I had a great mental picture in my head. The characters in this book were very real. They didn't seem too perfect, so I could picture them in real life. I think that overall, the author achieved her purpose. The strengths of this book were that it flowed very easily from topic to topic, which I think is important. Some weaknesses are that this book at times was not very descriptive. Sometimes I got a little confused and had to go back and reread. This book is a series, so I think that the author didn't tell what happened to all of the characters.


The vocabulary was very age appropriate. Other books that I have read in this genre were more suspenseful centered than this book because this book also talks about Ebram at school. I have not read any other books by this author. My overall view of this book is that is was an interesting read, but if you are looking for a scarier supernatural book, I would suggest reading a book by a different author. But if you are one of those people who gets scared easily but likes to read supernatural books, this book is for you. I didn't really learn anything from this book, but I would recommend it to others.

Reviewer Age:12
Reviewer City, State and Country: Leawood, Kansas United States