Spooksville Series

Any avid Christopher Pike fans out there?

I grew up reading his work. When I was in fourth grade, I borrowed Last Act from a friend, and was hooked from that point. Luckily for me, I discovered him in the late nineties, when he was extremely popular, and publishing a book every few months. Now, sadly, I have read most of his work, and search for gossip on the internet about possible future works, crossing my fingers.

The only thing I had not, until recently, read of his was the Spooksville Series.

To be honest, when this series of Pike's came out, it was during that phase where I was "too cool" to read things that were categorized as below young adult. I believe this series is intermediate. It's similar to Goosebumps, except that it's by Pike, and in my opinion, more enjoyable (not that I did not enjoy Stine growing up, also).

I have about 13 of the books, but have only read the first five thus far. The books are rather hard to come by. I've been searching eBay and Amazon because they're out of print.

Of the five I have read, however, I can say that while the books are not as good as his teen and adult fiction, they're really not too bad, either.

The characters are younger, of course. But Pike characterizes them very well. There's Adam, who has a hero complex, Watch, who has familial issues, Cindy, who's too pretty, and Sally, who's a courageous gossip. Really, reading these books felt like "Pike lite." A lot of issues he brings up in his teen and adult literature are in these books, as well. He's not talking down to the reader, but he does phrase things a bit easier, perhaps, because he's writing for a younger audience.

I would recommend hardcore Pike fans such as myself check this series out if they're Pike-starved, or recommend the books to someone who's looking for books at an intermediate reading level.