Isadora Moon Goes on a Field Trip

Harriet Muncaster's Isadora Moon Goes on a Field Trip is a gently spooky school story for 5 year olds about a class who are sure the castle they're visiting is haunted.

What happens

Isadora is a vampire-fairy, and this time her dad has signed up to help on the trip. He's thrilled. He loves old castles, he's secretly hoping for a ghost and he thinks the bright safety vest is VERY stylish. Isadora is a little less sure (parents who aren't like other parents can be embarrassing).

Then one of her friends mishears a question and decides the castle is haunted. By the time the bus pulls up, with thunder crashing over the towers, nobody wants to get off.

Of course there really is a ghost. Isadora and Dad find him curled up in a dusty cupboard down in the dungeon. His name is Oscar, and he's been on his own for two hundred years because everyone who sees him runs away screaming.

That's the heart of it. Oscar isn't scary at all. He just wants people to see who he is, not what he is. So Isadora has to find a way to bring him along without the whole class bolting (and a knight's costume with a feathery helmet turns out to be very handy).

Isadora tells the story herself, so it's warm and chatty and full of little funny moments. Dad sets five extremely loud alarms so he won't oversleep. Bruno sprays everyone with his "ghost-protector spray", which smells suspiciously like roses. Pink Rabbit gets his own tiny rain cape.

Is it frightening? Not really. There are a few shivers in the dark dungeon, and Isadora hides her eyes when Oscar first wails at them. But the ghost turns out to be the gentlest character in the book.

If you've got a little one who's nervous about fitting in, or who's ever been wary of something just because it was different, this is a lovely one to share at bedtime.

What to read next

If this one goes down well, Isadora Moon Goes to the Ballet has her class on their first trip out, with Mum and Dad volunteering that time too. Isadora is just as worried about what they'll get up to!