By Mary Downing Hahn
3 stars
If you like the Haunted Canada series or ghost stories in general, then this book might please you. The Puppets' Playback and Other Chilling Tales is a collection of short, creepy stories by author Mary Downing Hahn. She has written many other famous horror stories, such as Took, Wait till Helen Comes, and many more. In this book, Hahn combines thrill with the supernatural, more specifically ghosts and other paranormal beings. Each story is different but just as haunting as the last. The book starts off with Matthew, who skips school to enjoy the spring weather. But that proves to be a bad decision when he takes the bus to go home, and gets a weird feeling from a stranger on the bus that he suspects is following him. As you read further into the book, the stories range from Jenny, who buys a dress that soon helps her to solve a cold murder case from the 1920s, to a haunted puppet from the cover of the book who gets itself attached to a boy's hand. Just to name a few.
Hahn's writing is really descriptive and good for a younger audience who are into chilling tales. In my opinion, some of the stories were great and had plot twists I didn't expect. Some, on the other hand, I found a bit repetitive and predictable. Not that predictability has anything to do with how well a story is written. Just for me, I enjoyed some stories more than others. Like the chapter titled "New Girl". That one was very interesting, and I was just as confused as Madeleine until the end. It was a very interesting twist. It might have been one of my favourite short stories from the novel. Either that or tied with "The Real Thing."
Reviewed by Aryana as part of the Teen Reviewer, opens a new window program.
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