Mostly Ghostly 01 – Who Let the Ghosts Out

R. L. Stine's Who Let the Ghosts Out is a spooky, funny story for 9 year olds about a boy who finds two ghosts living in his bedroom.

What happens

Nicky and Tara Roland are walking home on a cold October night in T-shirts and shorts. They can't remember where they've been. Their key doesn't fit the door. And the family living in their house can't see or hear them.

It doesn't take them long to work out why. (It's Tara who checks the mirror.)

The new family are the Doyles, and their son Max is eleven. He's a magician in training with a pigeon called Joey. He gets straight As. His dad thinks he's a wimp and wants to send him off to a strict boarding school. His big brother Colin thinks punching him in the stomach is hilarious.

Then Max starts seeing the ghosts. He's the only one who can.

The story swaps between Nicky and Max telling it, and it's great fun. Max is scared of pretty much everything and totally honest about it. Nicky is grumpy about being dead. Tara thinks Max is kind of cute (and Nicky won't let her forget it).

There's a proper mystery under all the jokes too. Where have Nicky and Tara's mum and dad gone? And why is a shadowy figure called Phears so desperate to find the two of them?

Be ready for some seriously gross moments. Max's dog Buster turns inside out under a streetlamp, heart pumping away on the outside. Phears peels the skin back off Max's hand for a minute, just to show what he can do. It's Stine being revolting on purpose, and both go back to normal, but it's very vivid.

The ghosts are children who don't know how they died, which is sad as well as spooky. And Colin's bullying is pretty relentless.

If your reader is squeamish, or finds that sort of sibling meanness upsetting, it might be a bit much. If they love a gross-out and a laugh in the same chapter, they'll be hooked.

What to read next

The ghosts are still in Max's room in the second book, Have You Met My Ghoulfriend, and he's still trying to help them find out what happened to their family.