A Ghost Named Fred

A Ghost Named Fred by Nathaniel Benchley
Illustrated by Ben Shecter
An I Can Read Book

Pages: 62
Ages: 5+
Finished:Aug. 18, 2009
First Published: 1968
Genre: childrens, easy reader
Rating: 3.5/5

First sentence:

George had nobody to play with.

Reason for Reading: Ds read this one aloud as his daily reader.

Comments: George has no one to play with so he comes up with imaginative games to play on his own. One day while playing astronaut he ventures far from home, it starts to rain, and he enters an old spooky looking house. Here he meets Fred the ghost who is guarding the treasure only he doesn't know where the treasure is, so George agrees to help him find it.

This book has not been reprinted lately so it has not been given a 'Level' but I'd say it was Level 1 as it is mostly an easy reader with 'astronaut' and 'treasure' being the only truly hard words to phonetically sound out. The story is enjoyable. Ds looked forward to reading it each day. He had looked through the book so knew the ending and was anticipating coming to the part where the characters found the treasure. Myself, I found the story somewhat slow and not all that exciting. I also found the storyline of allowing the child to roam so far from home and enter a strange building not something that would be encouraged in today's day and age. However, I love Shecter's illustrations. He was a popular children's illustrator of the day and he always reminds me somewhat of Maurice Sendak. The book is still in print as a library edition but not in any other forms. A cute book especially for its illustrations, but just keep your eye out for a used copy to pop up at a book sale somewhere.