Review: A Solid, Brief Haunted Mine Story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 20, 2012
Make no mistake, these are short stories intended for very beginning readers. Lots of time "short" or "beginning reader" is a euphemism for "not very accomplished". That's not the case here.These books get right to the point. Dialogue is serviceable and just intended to advance the action. Grammar is correct; vocabulary is manageable; writing is basically tight. There is no deep character development. There aren't a lot of descriptive passages. There are no stunning endings that blow you away. That's sort of not the book's purpose. What you have is a cool basic ghost story, a nifty "haunted" or creepy setting, some adventure, a few thrills, and a bit of a twisty ending. The two kids are age appropriate, have good instincts, and show a lot of spunk. There are slamming doors, lights that go out, freaky sounds - but no bloody terror. This is for little kid adventure/chills, not nightmares.This story is even briefer than the other available samples and freebies, and the ghosty part is even lighter. But, assuming your kids know, or are told, that under no circumstances do you go into an abandoned mine, (and here in Colorado we have a lot of abandoned but accessible gold and silver mines), it is a lot of fun to imagine exploring an old mine tunnel. And that is basically what this story invites you to pretend.So, if you're looking for a nice read for a beginner, or a simple "read-with", the books in this series would seem to be a fine choice. (It occurs to me that these stories are reminiscent of the Cub Scout appropriate stories they used to have in Boy's Life; that's very much the feel you get from these.)