Dial-A-Ghost - Softcover

After spending most of his 10 years in a London orphanage, Oliver Smith is horrified to discover he is the sole master of a grand old mansion. Oliver is quite satisfied with his life just as it is, but he soon finds himself ensconced in a spooky, creaky tower bedroom in Helton Hall, under the care of his two cruelly calculating cousins, the Snodde-Brittles. Cousin Fulton and Cousin Frieda, next in line to inherit the family mansion if something should happen to Oliver, have offered to help him settle in to his new home. Of course, if the matron of the orphanage knew that this assistance involved renting bloodthirsty ghosts from the Dial-a-Ghost Agency in hopes of frightening the boy to death, she certainly wouldn't have allowed Oliver out of her sight. As it turns out, though, there's been a bit of a mix-up at Dial-a-Ghost. The gruesome specters intended for Helton Hall accidentally end up at a convent, while the gentle family of ghosts that wind up in Oliver's home suit him just fine, much to his evil cousins' dismay.

Eva Ibbotson has established herself as a true master of her genre with her extraordinary fantasy novels such as Which Witch? and Island of the Aunts. In Dial-a-Ghost, Ibbotson continues to excel in wit, whimsy, and wisdom. It's as if one's favorite crazy aunt has dropped by to tell the kind of convoluted and magical story children really want to hear. (Ages 8 to 12) --Emilie Coulter

Eva Ibbotson was born in Vienna, but when the Nazis came to power her family fled to England and she was sent to boarding school. She became a writer while bringing up her four children, and her bestselling novels have been published around the world. Journey to the River Sea won the Nestle Gold Award and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. Some of her other young fiction titles include The Secret of Platform 13, Which Witch? and The Great Ghost Rescue. Eva died peacefully in October 2010 at the age of eighty-five.