A world about The Special Shelf....
Its exists soley in the tween/teen area of the library I visit, and is filled to the brim with non-fiction books that are extremely interesting and fun. I love this shelf, I want this shelf. If I could have a magic bookshelf, this would be close to my wish coming true. It has everything - from “how to start a band” to ‘a history of skateboard design’ and much more in between. The materials on this shelf are constantly rotating and many are brought in from the adult section.
I found the book for this review on it. A true-ghost story book. A hot topic, a fun topic, a popular topic…but the book was better off staying the authors family annuals. Wilder has a huge Irish family and she knows literally everything about them. This book is their history. Yawn! Reading someone else’s family history in excruciating detail is sort of my idea of hell. But interspersed, randomly, were little nuggets of ghost stories. I felt sort of like a rat in a maze, desperately hoping to find those little nuggets, and once I had finally found -my sense of accomplishment was so great that I wanted to find more. I honestly think this book could have been kept just in the author’s own family, for their personal enjoyment because it was over the top. Sarcastic example: ‘My cousin’s grandma’s foster sister visited me in a séance once”. Please! Spare me! Save me!
For Tweens?
Although I was patient (?) enough to glean some heebie-jeebies out of this book, I am positive a tween would be having none of this.
Final Word:
The author writes like I speak, so it was great to hear someone else saying ‘I was freaking out!’ I do, however, think that any other book by this author might be more interesting. She has written a book called, House of Spirits and Whispers about living in a haunted house, which might have been a better choice for The Special Shelf in the Teen Section.
Wilder, A. (2009). Spirits Out of Time: True Family Ghost Stories and Weird Paranormal Experiences. st.paul: Llewellyn Publications.
Bonus:
In honor of this book, I am including my own ghost photo. I was living in an old home at the time (built in the 1800’s) and took a series of photos to try to sell the house with. One of those photos showed this woman in MY BEDROOM window! I was truly horrified and did a number of experiments to see if somehow it could be my own reflection. I even emailed the photo to a psychic who said it was an Imprint -only a memory of ghost or a strong emotion. I didn’t feel any better, and made my ex-boyfriend sleep on the couch for weeks.
