Book Review: McBroom's Ghost

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Title:  McBroom’s Ghost
Author:  Sid Fleischman
Pages:  44
Publication Date:  1971
Version:  Hardcover
Genre:  Children’s Fiction

My Review:
I read this book to my ten year old son.  I thought this was a pretty neat book, but my son was left feeling a bit confused.  The author used a LOT of sayings not to be taken in a literal form.  The main character would say and I’m not lying, so my son was a bit confused as to what the underlying messages were.

This is a story about a man and his wife and 11 children who live on a farm that can grow crops in just one day.  Of course with amazing land like that, the neighbor of McBroom is always trying to get him to sell the land to him and his pig farm.  One day the children hear things that they should not be hearing, like the crow of their old rooster that died, their father’s voice outside when he was inside with laryngitis, and other voices.  McBroom tells his children it must be that the neighbor got a rooster, the wind sounded like his voice, and the wind and cold made the sounds that sounded like voices.  Then one day McBroom hears the same sounds with his own ears.  He goes to a ghost seer to ask how to get rid of the ghosts that haunt his home and land.  She tells him to get a dog, but only a certain type of dog….that she just happens to have puppies for sale of.  He buys a puppy and they don’t hear the sounds again….until the following season.
So, what are the noises/voices and how do they get rid of them?  That you will have to read the book to find out.

I would say this was a 4 star out of 5 book.  However, my son says 2 star out of 5 because of the things that he had to have explained all the time for him to understand.

This book counts toward my following challenges:  3660 Minutes Challenge, Off the Shelf Challenge