All the Lovely Bad Ones

Travis and Corey have been asked not to return to the summer camp they attended last year. It seems that they are a couple of trouble makers. They’re not really “bad ones.” They’re just easily bored and quite mischievous. Instead of going to camp, the brother and sister duo go to spend the summer with their grandmother. She owns a historical inn in Vermont. Shortly after their arrival, Travis and Corey hear that the inn used to be haunted. When the previous owners ran the inn, visitors flocked from all over to see ghosts and be frightened out of their wits. Since Travis and Corey’s grandmother has been in charge, not one ghost has been seen. Travis and Corey see that business is not great at their grandmother’s inn. They think of a way to help her out and have some fun in the process. Travis and Corey decide they will haunt the inn themselves. Corey dresses in a white nightgown one night and pretends to be a ghost in a grove of trees outside the inn. She succeeds in terrifying the guests and attracting many new visitors, but both Corey and Travis feel that when they are in the grove of trees there is someone watching them. Back at the inn strange occurrences begin: bursts of cold air, power outages, voices whispering when no one is around, and machines going haywire for no good reason. Ghost hunters arrive at the inn. They have an explanation for why the ghosts have appeared again. Travis and Corey’s grandmother think that the ghost hunters are crazy, but The Brewsters (the old couple that has worked at the inn since before Grandmother owned it) agree with the ghost hunters. Travis and Corey may have just been playing harmless pranks, but they have awakened the ghosts. It turns out the ghosts are real. Travis and Corey find out that besides scaring people the ghosts can do a lot of damage. “The bad ones” are boys and girls who died at the inn long ago when it was a poor farm. They haunt the inn along with Miss Ada, the horrible woman who was responsible for them when they were alive. The bad ones will not rest until Miss Ada’s evil deeds have been exposed and she has been sent away for good. It is up to Travis and Corey to discover a way to do just that.

This book is a great ghost story. If you have a student or child who loves a thrilling tale, I don’t think they will be disappointed with All the Lovely Bad Ones. Even though this is a kid’s book I found myself getting a little creeped out at times. Before the bad ones show themselves, they whisper things in empty rooms. They pinch and poke at Travis and Corey too. Miss Ada is a wonderfully written villain, pure evil and delightfully spooky. The subject of death comes up a lot. This is a ghost story, and that’s understandable. But parents and teachers should be aware that the deaths of three of the ghosts are described. It is also revealed that Miss Ada hung herself in the grove, and Travis and Corey are in mortal danger at the end of the story when they confront Miss Ada. Like I said, she’s pure evil. This is not the average ghost you find in a kids’ book. This ghost means business, and she’s very dangerous. Sensitive kids should probably steer clear of this book until they are older. I have had some junior high students who I think would have LOVED this book. In my review of Closed for the Season, I mentioned I liked the way Mary Downing Hahn did not use inappropriate language. This book was very similar. Aside from a bit of violence and mortal peril this book is very age appropriate. I would recommend it to tweens and teens who loved to be scared. All the Lovely Bad Ones might be just the thing to get a reluctant reader hooked on a book.