From the series Scary Places
Dark Mansions
Reading Level Grades 4-5Interest Level Grades 4 – 8Copyright 2012
Reviewed
From the series Scary Places
Reading Level Grades 4-5Interest Level Grades 4 – 8Copyright 2012
ReviewedA big, beautiful mansion sounds like a great place to live. But what if its many rooms hold only memories of pain and suffering? What if sad spirits haunt the hallways and ghostly screams echo out the large windows? No amount of money can stop a house like that from becoming a nightmare. Among the 11 mansions in this book, readers will discover a beautiful plantation where a ghostly hound howls on stormy nights; Manhattan’s oldest home where a spirit shushes schoolchildren; and an architect’s dream house that turned into a nightmare with the swing of an axe. Riveting true tales and full-color photos will keep children turning the pages to discover more spooky stories.
After producing such spinetingling, if esoteric, volumes as Monstrous Morgues of the Past (2011), Shuttered Horror Hospitals (2011), and Wretched Ruins (2010), is there anywhere left for the Scary Places series to go? Have no fear, fright fans. Dark Mansions separates itself from the haunted houses and castles of previous entries by a slim technical margin, but that doesn't mean that Williams doesn't dig up some spooky stuff. The 11 twopage spreads, most of which have roots in the 1800s, include mansion mysteries that involve such highprofile figures as Aaron Burr and Frank Lloyd Wright. Ever better, though, are the grisly, lesserknown stories, such as Indianapolis' Hannah House, where a fire once killed a basement full of Underground Railroad fugitives: since then, the house has shown many signs of being haunted. Doors have opened and closed on their own. A chandelier has rocked without any wind present, and paintings have fallen from the walls. Most disturbingly of all, people have heard moans and seen ghosts in the shadows of the basement. Haunted Caves, meanwhile, revels in the echoing voices and ghostly tapping of various soldiers, hermits, explorers, and guides who either got lost in the caves or whose spirits couldn't help but return. A gritty design snazzes up the effective mix of onsite photos and historical snapshots - ¦ At the same time, sidebars offer up additional factoids, related hauntings, and further unsourced - ”but chilling - ”speculation. Solid new entries in a reliable, reluctant readerfriendly series.
Booklist
Each book highlights 11... frightening places, with two to three paragraphs of information, a pullout box containing a related fact, and artwork consisting mostly of atmospheric photographs of the places and people involved. There is not a lot of detail about any of the sites, although the text mixes historical facts with information about the supposed ghost sightings and may prompt further research without keeping readers up at night. Mansions is a bit spookier than Caves as it includes an ax murderer and a young girl who broke her neck running into a clothesline, but both books will satisfy readers looking for a good scare - ¦ the chilling covers will keep these books in constant circulation.
School Library Journal
