39. Dragonbreath #5: No Such Things as Ghosts by Ursula Vernon

No Such Things as Ghosts by Ursula Vernon (US) - (Canada)
Dragonbreath, #5

Pages: 201
Ages: 8+
Finished: Feb. 5, 2012
First Published: Jul. 26, 2011
Publisher: Dial Books
Genre: children, graphic novel hybrid, humour
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

In the dark of night, the wily vampire stalks his prey.

Publisher's Summary: "Danny Dragonbreath and his best friend, Wendell, have a carefully constructed trick-or-treating system designed to maximize their Halloween candy haul. But this year, despite Danny's awesome vampire costume, their plan is flopping. First, Danny's dad makes them trick-or-treat with Christiana Vanderpool, an annoying know-it-all (and girl) who doesn't even believe that dragons exist. And then the school bully dares them to go into a spooky old haunted house. Naturally, the house is inhabited by a creepy clown and a candy-crazed ghost of yore. It's going to take more than fire-breathing to get them out of this mess - they might even have to (horror of horrors!) perform a sacrificial candy offering."


Acquired: Ds was gifted this copy at Christmas (2011).

Reason for Reading:  Next in the series.

Once a kids' series like this has reached a certain number of books, it always follows through with an obligatory Hallowe'en story and this is Dragonbreath's Hallowe'en entry.  Breaking form from the other books where they usually travel to meet with one of Danny's relatives to help them with the situation in which they find themselves, this time Danny, Wendell and classmate Christiana go trick or treating and end up with a real ghost on their hands.  Lots of fun!  Wendell meets his match with an even geekier kid than himself in Christiana.  While Wendell's costume is an hydrogen atom, Christiana's is a salmonella bacteria and Christiana talks science using words even Wendell has to look up in a dictionary.  But Christiana has a weakness, her scientific mind leads her to being a skeptic about anything unproven, even the fact that Danny is a dragon!  So ultimately it is Christiana who has the hardest time facing a real ghost.  An enjoyable book, full of everything we've come to expect from Danny Dragonbreath, with a nice combination of text and brief graphic panels.  Fans will be delighted, references are made to adventures from previous books for faithful readers.  While not my favourite in the series certainly up to par with the rest.  Looking forward to the next volume which features one of my favourite cryptids, the jackalope