Book Review of #3 The Carnival Ghost by Francine Pascal

Name of Book: The Carnival Ghost

Author: Francine Pascal

ISBN: 0-553-15859-7

Publisher: Bantam

Part of a Series: Sweet Valley Twins and Friends super chillers; prequels; the christmas ghost, the ghost in the graveyard; sequels; the ghost in the bell tower, the curse of the ruby necklace

Type of book: Sweet Valley Twins, ghost, carnival, 1980s

Year it was published: 1990

Summary:

A traveling carnival is on its way to Sweet Valley, and Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield can't wait to ride the roller coaster, have their fortunes told, and try their luck at the games. But when they get there some odd things happen to the twins. A fortune-teller warns Jessica to stay away from the carnival. And a mysterious girl named Claire seems to appear out of nowhere and suddenly becomes best friends with Elizabeth.

Elizabeth is strangely drawn to Claire. She begins to ignore her friends, her chores, and even her sister to spend time with her new friend. It's as if she's under an evil spell...a spell no one, not even Jessica, can break. And if her twin is in danger, how can Jessica help her?

Characters:

The characters are basically flat and predictable. What you see is what you get basically. There's nothing else for me to say about them.

Theme:

Umm I have no idea what I'm supposed to learn from reading the book.

Plot:

Primarily the story is from Jessica's point of view, which is a third person narrative.Sometimes it's from Elizabeth's though. This is a stand alone novel and anyone can follow it along if they desire.

Author Information:

Francine Pascal (born May 13, 1938) is an author best known for creating the Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High was the backbone of the collection, and was made into a popular television series.[2] [3] There were also several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University. Although most of these books were published in the 1980s and 1990s, they have remained popular such that several titles have been re-released in recent years. (From Wiki.)

Opinion:

It's an entertaining read although I'm of opinion that a book like this is brain candy and the characters learn nothing at all pretty much. It's a stand alone novel and even if you never ever read Sweet Valley before, you can simply pick this book up and begin. As far as I know it doesn't tie into any major story-lines and there's no continuity.

3 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)