BOO! HISS!

Phyllis and Sheldon live in a ramshackle Victorian house, but they are no ordinary roommates.

Phyllis, a ghost, and Sheldon, a green and orange rattlesnake, are great friends, enjoying books and playing Snakes and Ladders and catch (somewhat difficult for armless Sheldon). Life goes smoothly until a human family buys the house. The father is a musician, the mother is an artist, oldest son Charlie is a great reader, and Bebe, an infant, wails all night long. (Dad is light-skinned, Mom is brown-skinned, and the little ones are tan-skinned.) These humans disturb the original inhabitants in every way, and the two become determined to scare the people off, but either the ghost and the snake aren’t really scary, or the family members are just too blasé to notice their efforts. There’s a lot to pay attention to here—the main text, panels full of details and visual humor, and the speech bubbles. The cartoonish, digital art is appealing. The snake and the ghost make lots of onomatopoeic noises (hence the title), and the humans do, too. Kids who read this aloud to themselves will chuckle, although occasionally a joke may elude the intended audience, like “When does a joke become a ‘dad’ joke?” “When it becomes apparent.” Somewhat sophisticated, able young readers are the best audience, as the format makes it a difficult read-aloud.

A funny scary story in a graphic chapter book format.