Pleasing the Ghost

This book is about a nine year old boy named Dennis. He is visited by ghosts frequently, but always hopes that is the ghost he has sent for. His father died a year ago and he is hoping that he will visit Dennis soon. He does get a visit from a familiar ghost, his Uncle Arvie. Before his Uncle died

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he had a stroke which fumbled his speech. His Uncle tells Dennis that he wants him to help him with "3 pleases" wishes. It is unfinished business that he would like Dennis to help him with. Throughout the story Dennis is trying to help his Uncle Arvie with this pleases, but is having trouble understanding him due to the stroke. It is kind of a distraction when reading to have to decipher what he is saying or to read through it to get to the translation. He ends up helping his uncle with his wishes while also dealing with a bully named BIlly. They end up having something in common. I think this could be a good story to introduce this genre of science fiction.

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Not the best Creech book, by far. Not horrible, but not as good as many of her others, such as Walk Two Moons.

A great story to read aloud to fourth grade students. Tight story, good pace, realistic despite its paranormal subject matter, and just enough humor.

So fun. The ghost of the title is key, though - it's his uncle, a victim of a stroke that left him with tangled semantics. But our hero can figure out what he's saying. Therefore it's not just a funny ghost story but also a heartwarming story about relationships and communication.