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Books like The Ghost Next Door

The Ghost Next Door

2003R. L. Stine

2.6/5

Well, THAT was interesting. No, I'm serious, I enjoyed it.Hannah is a 12-year-old girl living with her family in a small town. It's summer and she's bored. Her two younger twin brothers, age 6, are wild and crazy and take up all her parents' time and attention. She must find ways to amuse herself in the long, hot, summer months. Ever hear the phrase, "Idle hands are the devil's workshop?" Hannah meets the boy next door, a 12-year-old named Danny with red hair and freckles. He's moved into the old Dodson house. That's strange - it's sat empty for years. And Hannah never saw any moving van or people inside the house. Danny claims he's in her grade at her school, but she doesn't know him or any of his friends.Nevertheless, she becomes friends with Danny. Unfortunately, Danny hangs out with a bad crowd. His "friends" Alan and Fred are always daring him to do things and encouraging him to steal and pull pranks. Hannah often spies on the boys and spies on Danny and his activities - ostensibly because she suspects he might be a ghost, but I think she has a tiny crush on him - and sees how the boys treat him and goad him into criminal behavior.To add onto all of this, there is a shadowy dark phantom with glowing red eyes that keeps following her around and warning her to stay away from Danny. No one can see it but her. Who is it? What does it want?...In a shocking surprise twist, we realize that (view spoiler)[ Hannah is the ghost, not Danny. She died in a house fire 5 years ago, and she and her whole family are dead. I think she's here to save Danny... he and his thug friends end up setting fire to a crotchety old man's home and she saves Danny's life by helping him escape from the burning building.I liked Hannah's slow realization that she's the one who's dead - not Danny - and the way she amps up her courage by saying, "I'm a ghost, I can do this, I can't die again, these flames can't really hurt me." It must be hard for her, but she is very brave. (hide spoiler)]
Picture of a book: The Ghost Next Door

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