Hardly Haunted

by Jessie Sima

Overview

From the bestselling creator of Not Quite Narwhal comes a delightfully spooky story about an old house who wants to be a home...even if her new family isn’t what she expected.

House has a problem.

She’s a little spooky. She’s a little cobwebby. Oh, no! What if she’s haunted?

She’s not sure, but...her hinges creak. Her pipes bang. And on windy days, the branches scritch-scratch at her windows. She tries to hold her breath and be as still as possible. If she’s on her best behavior, maybe a family will move in.

How will House ever find a family that doesn’t mind being haunted?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534441705
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	07/20/2021
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	64,817
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 10.70(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	AD450L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jessie Sima is an author/illustrator living and working in New York City. They grew up in a small town in southern New Jersey, unaware that they were a storyteller. Once they figured it out, they told their family and friends, who took it quite well. They are the author of Not Quite Narwhal; Harriet Gets Carried Away; Love, Z; Snow Pony and the Seven Miniature Ponies; Spencer’s New Pet; Jules vs. the Ocean; and Hardly Haunted. You can visit them at JessieSima.com.

Editorial Reviews

07/26/2021

A little sympathy for the eerie purple mansion for sale on the hill, please—she suspects that she may be haunted. “I’m a house... People are supposed to live in me,” she worries. “Who would want to live in a haunted house?” As a wide-eyed black cat bounces through her cobweb-punctuated rooms, the expressive protagonist (in Sima’s cartoonishly ominous digital art, half-moon windows serve as eyes, and other architectural details provide hints of facial features) tries to suppress her creaky doors, squeaky floors, and other signs of hauntedness: “If I’m on my very best behavior... maybe no one will notice how spooky I am.” But after inadvertently producing a veritable concert of ghostly sounds, she realizes that “she liked being noisy. Maybe she liked being haunted,” and that what she really needs is a family who can “help this haunted house become a haunted home.” Sima creates a lovely twist on finding one’s place in the world, told with a light touch and plenty of spooky onomatopoeia. Ages 4–8. (July)

Publishers Weekly

Digital illustrations predominately in purples and gold provide a soft, spooky atmosphere to give the dwelling character. This is just right for a Halloween story hour, and children will enjoy repeating the spooky sounds on every page.

Booklist

Sima’s text is more sweet than spooky, complemented by the digital illustrations’ cool palette of purples, blues, and greens. Various sounds to read aloud and visual details to pore over (the anthropomorphic house’s expressions, the ever-present black cat) will surely lead to repeat readings.

Horn Book Magazine

★ 09/01/2021

K-Gr 2—The house on the hill thinks that she might be haunted because no one lives there. It's not her fault that her doors creak and the stairs squeak. She tries her best to hold her breath and be quiet, but as she quickly realizes, she likes being noisy. She hopes that maybe one day a family will move in that doesn't mind a little noise and doesn't care if she's haunted. When that day arrives, the haunted house knows that her new family accepts her for who she is. An inventive picture book, this forces readers to focus on the house's perspective, and build empathy for its plight. Every spread features the sad or confused or smiling house, and no more than a sentence or two. Somehow this spare telling is packed full of personification that readers can relate to and care bout. The sentence's location on the page is not limited to one place or format. Sometimes it's at the top of the page, sometimes it's a squiggly line that takes up most of the page and in other places, a word is enlarged and in a different font—all of this and a small black cat grab and hold any onlooker's attention. P.S. It's a family of ghosts who make this haunted house a haunted home. VERDICT This celebration of being true to oneself makes it a perfect addition to every library's picture book collection, and the spooky message is one that is welcome all year around.—Myiesha Speight, formerly at Towson Univ., Baltimore

School Library Journal

2021-07-14
What could be worse for a house than to be haunted? Unless….

“There was a house on a hill, and that house was worried.” Overgrown with vines and frequented by a curious black cat, the abandoned abode fears that she will remain unoccupied because of her eerie countenance. Supplying the house with rounded, third-story windows and exterior molding that shift to express emotions, Sima takes readers through a tour of the house’s ominous interior. At first, the enchanted homestead tries to suppress her creaky walls, squeaky stairs, and rattling pipes. Despite all efforts to keep “VERY still. And VERY quiet. And VERY calm,” the house comes to find that being a rather creepy residence might actually be fun. The realization dawns on the decrepit dwelling with both relief and joy: “She liked being noisy. Maybe she liked being haunted.” Once the house embraces herself for who she is, the plot moves in a pleasant yet predictable direction: A cheerful family of ghosts loves the house in all her noisy glory and decides to move in. Sima’s lighthearted, cartoony style and cozy palette disarm the book of any frightening elements. The gentle, upbeat vibe makes it a fair choice to remind kids that their differences from others are the key to their belonging. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A cute, Halloween-y take on the old dare-to-be-you moral. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews