Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol: The Haunted House Next Door

Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol: The Haunted House Next Door
Andres Miedoso
Victor Rivas, Illustrator
Little Simon/Simon & Schuster, 2017
Grades 2-4
Horror/Suspense, Fiction/Graphic Hybrid
Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol series

Andres must move with his scientist parents yet again. This time their new house has a kid living next door just Andres’ age. The new neighbor appears to have a home office in the garage packed with interesting gadgets from which he runs some sort of a mysterious business. After a cryptic warning from Desmond about his new home, Andres spends a restless night with strange dreams. The next day brings furniture moving on its own and a giant moving figure made out of silverware. Just as Andres starts to panic, Desmond shows up to save the day. It turns out that he is a ghost hunter and he and Andres manage to contain the ghost using Desmond's mother's welcome lasagna. The boys have a conversation with the ghost after being covered in disgusting ghost-gunk and come up with a solution that pleases everybody. Zax the ghost finds a place within Andres' home and Andres officially joins the Ghost Patrol with Desmond, ready to take on new adventures.

A series opener in one of the latest new series for emerging chapter book readers, Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol offers mild thrills and chills with some laughs along the way. The book never gets too scary and although the ghost is real, he is pleasant and becomes a friend. Jokes and potty humor abound with the prerequisite amount of burping and other gross bodily functions, ghost-style. The black and white comic illustrations are large, humorous, and on every page, sometimes taking up the full page. The chapters are short with cliff-hangers, the vocabulary is low, and the interest is high, making this a great choice for kids starting to read chapter books, especially boys. The cast is diverse and the text includes some Spanish terms used by Andres' parents. The second book in the series was released simultaneously last December with this first installment. Four more titles are projected for release this year, giving kids a place to turn to once they plow through this entertaining read.