Why I’m Not Afraid of Ghosts

R. L. Stine's Why I'm Not Afraid of Ghosts is a spooky, funny story for 8 year olds about a boy who refuses to believe in ghosts and the two ghosts determined to prove him wrong.

What happens

Oliver has just moved into a creepy old place on Fear Street, and he loves it. He wants the dusty attic for his bedroom. His new friend Shawn thinks he's mad, because everyone knows the houses on Fear Street are haunted.

Oliver laughs out loud at that. Ha! Ha! Ha!

Big mistake. Up in the attic live Robbie and Dora, a brother and sister who've been dead for more than a hundred years. Dora is bossy and can dance about as a clattering skeleton. Robbie is ten, stuck forever in a sailor suit, and does brilliant spooky noises.

They make a bet. Whoever scares Oliver into running to his parents first, wins.

The trouble is, nothing works! Robbie groans and shrieks all night, and Oliver just thinks his little sister is having nightmares again. Dora turns up inside his new computer game as a grinning skull, and Oliver decides the game must be faulty. Honestly, how rude.

Most of it is told from Robbie's side, and that's what makes it so much fun. He's supposed to be a scary ghost, but he's scared of spiders, jumps at the dog and secretly thinks Oliver seems quite cool. You end up rooting for the ghost!

The sibling squabbling is spot on too. Robbie and Dora bicker like any brother and sister (just with melting faces). Meanwhile Oliver is fed up with his snooping little sister Nell, so there's sibling trouble upstairs and down.

It is proper spooky in places. There are faces melting to bone, a skull breathing flames and some very gruesome groaning. But the scares keep falling flat, and that's the joke, so it's much more giggly than frightening.

If your reader is just getting into scary stories and wants something that's more fun than fright, this is a great one to try. Quite a few children will want to be Oliver, the kid who simply won't be scared.

What to read next

If the squabbling ghosts are what they love, try R. L. Stine's Who Let the Ghosts Out next, where a brother and sister who can't remember what happened to them turn up in a boy's bedroom.