THE GHOST OF FIVE OWL FARM

by Wilson Gage ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 21, 1966

In the monotonous world of juvenile mysteries the protagonists are usually trying to figure out who threw the jewels in the pool instead of filing their insurance claims, or discovering the hidden stair long after the youngest reader would know it's there, or plodding to the unstartling solution of who put the rare scrimshaw letter opener in the valuable ugly vase grandma mislaid. The form is made ridiculous by its general lack of humor and disreputable by its child or adolescent direction of adult events. The Ghost of Five Owl Farm is therefore particularly pleasant to come upon. It combines the creepier elements of a ghost story, the suspense of unexplainable evening manifestations emanating from the barn, and the mystery is solved both as a matter of detection and a comedy of errors. Ted has his summer burdened with the presence of his younger twin cousins on the new farm his parents recently acquired. Their dialogue speeds the pleasure and their three-way interference slows-up their solution in this atypical mystery for younger readers. Miss Gage has handled affectionate cousinly contempt before in Miss Osborne-the-Mop, one of the funniest of contemporary fantasies, and her position as a quality writer for children has been affirmed with the eighth Aurienne Award given by ALA to an outstanding book on animal life, 1964's Big Blue Island.

Pub Date: March 21, 1966

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: World

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1966

Categories: FICTION