Wednesday, August 6, 2014

The House of Dies Drear, by Virginia Hamilton

It begins with a dream: Thomas Small is in a pine forest running from a scary man with a white beard. He soon wakes to find himself in a car with his parents and his toddler twin brothers.

They are leaving North Carolina to their new home in Ohio. Their new house used to be a stop on the Underground Railroad where slaves were helped to escape to freedom in the pre-Civil War era. Thomas’s father is really excited because he’s a historian and teaches U. S. History at the college.

Thomas thinks the house is haunted by the past owner Dies Drear. Dies was murdered by bounty hunters a hundred years before.

Thomas meets some strange friends, Pesty, Mac, and Mr. Pluto while playing. He finds himself locked in the basement only to be rescued by his mother and a sliding door inside the house.

This book gets very interesting as people break into their house and try to scare the family away. Everyone is searching for the hidden treasure. With a surprise ending, the story twists and turns as the treasure is found and the ghost are revealed.

Reviewed by Brenda, First Regional Library

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