Changes

The book contains ten ghost short stories, a mixture of retold classics and Mould's own tales varying in length and in scariness. We have "The Bagman's Story" taken from the ''Pickwick Papers'' with its Dickensian cosy good-heartedness, a pirate-treasure thrill of "Aboard the Armadillo" and perhaps the most clasically classically ghostly story of walking effigies by Edith Nesbit "Man-Size in Marble" as well as "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" that has only a pretend ghost and Poe's chiling chilling account of madness "The Tell-Tale Heart". The shortest and to me, undoubtedly the scariest is "The Bedtime Tale", barely two pages of sheer horror.

The age that ''Dust and Bones'' is suitable for depends entirely on your child's susceptibility to being scared by, well, scary stuff. Most 6-7 -year -olds would be able to understand most of the tales (apart from the Poe one, whose distinct whiff of insanity was more disturbing to this adult reader than the sulphur and mustiness of the others), but it would take a rather resilient or unimaginative 6 -year -old not to be disturbed. I would say, 8-10 years old onwards, and probably, on average, more for boys than girls. As the stories are short and illustrations plentiful, but the subject matter and style not particularly childish, it could be a great book for a reluctant reader.

Thanks to the publishers for sending this shiver down the Bookbag's spine. We also have a review of [[Fangs 'n' Fire by Chris Mould]].