Review by Booklist Review
Once there was a lovely purple house, but people refused to live there. Since this was pretty suspicious, the house began to think sadly: "I must be HAUNTED!" Truly, the house is dusty and full of cobwebs, but she always attempts to be on her best behavior. No matter how hard she tries to be calm and hold still, the doors creak, the stairs squeak, the pipes rattle, the foundation groans, the lights flicker, and the wind gusts Hooooo! Ultimately deciding that haunting and making eerie sounds is fun, the house accepts her scary nature and hopes a family who appreciates her will come. Serendipitously, a ghost family arrives and happily decorates with spooky pumpkins and cobwebs while bats abound. The house goes all out making terrifying noises and uncanny clamor, which provide joy for her new inhabitants. 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.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
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)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
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
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
An empty old house, full of cobwebs and dust, worries she might be haunted. Concerned about scaring off potential inhabitants, she tries not to "CREEEAAAK!" or "SQUEEEAAAK!" Despite her best efforts, she can't control the wind, whose gusts cause more commotion: "SCRATCH! SCRATCH! SCRATCH!" Ultimately, this helps the house realize that "she liked being noisy. Maybe she liked being haunted." Now all she needs is a "family who will help this haunted house become a haunted home." Cue the ethereal foursome glowing against the night sky as they climb the hill with their luggage. 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. Cynthia K. Ritter September/October 2021 p.54(c) Copyright 2021. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
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) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
