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About The Book

This BOOOOOOk comes with a ghostly surprise.

Everyone has heard of haunted houses. You know, the ones that the mailman crosses the street to avoid. But it turns out that books can be haunted too. Of course all books are full of surprises—but The Boo! Book has a spooky one: A ghost! He rearranges the words, flips the pictures upside down, and waits very patiently for his special version of a surprise ending.
In the spirit of the classic The Monster at the End of this Book, this clever tale features a pop-up ghost encounter and friendly fun for all ages.

About The Author

Photograph courtesy of the author

This is Nathaniel Lachenmeyer’s first haunted book.  He is also the author of The Origami Master illustrated by Aki Sogabe and Broken Beaks illustrated by Robert R. Ingpen and has written non-fiction books for adults as well. He lives in a not-haunted house outside of Atlanta.

About The Illustrator

Nicoletta Ceccoli studied at the State Institute of Art in Urbino, Italy. She was awarded the Silver Medal in 2006 by the Society of Illustrators in New York, and won the Anderson Prize in 2001, honoring her as the best children’s book illustrator in Italy. Nicoletta has illustrated many acclaimed picture books here and abroad, including The Girl in the Castle Inside the Museum and How the Robin Saved Spring. She lives in San Marino, Italy.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers (August 7, 2012)
  • Length: 46 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781439156155
  • Grades: P - 3
  • Ages: 4 - 8

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Raves and Reviews

"Writer Nathaniel Lachenmeyer has noticed the scary fact that the first three letters in book spell boo. He conjures up the idea of a haunted book that's more fun than a haunted house. His book should stir young imaginations and prove that printed text and illustrations, a mixture of acrylics, digital photography and clay puppets, can be as interactive as the flashiest video game. Readers are advised: 'Book ghosts love having books read to them.' The Boo! Book, which has a pop-up surprise on the last page, is perfect for not-too-spooky read-alouds."

– USA Today

"Lachenmeyer explains how to handle haunted books (answer: carefully) in a story starring an angelic child with curly hair, whose book is haunted by a pale translucent ghost with a penchant for mischief. Stories and words get turned upside down (“Book ghosts like nothing better than to meddle with stories”), and at one point the child even gets sucked inside the book. Ceccoli’s milky, light-infused illustrations combine plasticine puppets with digital photography and acrylics to a surreal 3-D effect, and a surprise pop-up supplies a gratifying conclusion."
--Publishers Weekly

"Lachenmeyer's imaginative text is both straightforward and lyrical, keeping the haunting more spookily magical than scary. It's Ceccoli's impressive and intricate illustrations, however, that truly bring this book to ethereal life. Using 'a combination of plasticine puppets, digital photography, Photoshop, and acrylics on paper,' Ceccoli creates an almost three-dimensional, soft-focus world of muted, twilight tones in which horizons are tilted and objects float or turn upside down. The effect is beautifully supernatural rather than creepy, and the blue-gray, cat-eared, rosy-cheeked ghost is appealingly stuffed-animal-like, the only hint of his spectral origins being two tiny fangs. This would make a fine addition to either a Halloween- or book-themed storytime or add a delicious hint of eeriness to a bedtime readaloud."

--The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"An engaging narrator, together with magical illustrations that often conjure surreal scenes, lets readers in on all there is to know about haunted books and how to be a good owner of one."

Kirkus Reviews

"Lachenmeyer's imaginative text is both straightforward and lyrical, keeping the haunting more spookily magical than scary. It's Ceccoli's impressive and intricate illustrations, however, that truly bring this book to ethereal life. Using 'a combination of plasticine puppets, digital photography, Photoshop, and acrylics on paper,' Ceccoli creates an almost three-dimensional, soft-focus world of muted, twilight tones in which horizons are tilted and objects float or turn upside down. The effect is beautifully supernatural rather than creepy, and the blue-gray, cat-eared, rosy-cheeked ghost is appealingly stuffed-animal-like, the only hint of his spectral origins being two tiny fangs. This would make a fine addition to either a Halloween- or book-themed storytime or add a delicious hint of eeriness to a bedtime readaloud."

--The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

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