Sam Wu Is NOT Afraid of Ghosts!

Product Information

Award-winning Northern Irish author Oliver Jeffers launched his hugely successful picture book career in 2004 with How to Catch a Star which went on to have enormous commercial and critical success. This stage debut coincides with the book’s twentieth anniversary year. Yep, I had tons of fun, and I am very happy to see that we will be getting more Sam Wu adventures, I can't wait for it to come out! <3 I would recommend this book to everyone! This book is 100% adorable, hilarious and full of joy. After a terrible Incident That Shall Not Be Discussed Again, Sam Wu is determined to prove his courage to his classmates after all, no matter what it takes - from adopting a snake that terrifies him to hunting ghosts through his house and facing his little sister's psychotic cat, Buttercup. Sam Wu has the perfect plan to prove that he’s brave: embark on a bold adventure, get a “trusty companion,” and defeat the ghost in his home!

Ingenious retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s story with a lot of emphasis on kindness, decency and redemption" Sam Wu is NOT Afraid of Ghosts is an absolute blast ( excuse the pun) from beginning to end. Filled to the brim with gorgeous illustrations from the super talented Nathan Reed, this witty children’s book will entertain people of all ages and Sam will surely give our younger readers a new hero to aspire to. I couldn’t stop laughing from the very beginning of this book and loved the adventure that Sam, Zoe and Bernard find themselves on. It is so reminiscent of childhood and all of our childhood fears that even I as a *cough* 27 year old *cough* couldn’t help but relate to Sam! I have to say I didn't expect the bully to be so tiny. When we first read about the bully I had expected some bulky rich dude, but instead it is just a tiny little rich kid spoiled to death. I didn't like the guy at all, but I could see that he is also not as tough as he wants people to think he is. :P My Experience: I started reading Sam Wu is Not Afraid of Ghosts on the morning of 8/15/18 and finished it before midnight. My first one day read! Woot!! A fantastic read! I think my son will enjoy this book a lot too because he’s able to relate to Sam riding the Astro Blast Simulator since we also ride on one when we went to a Space Center in Huntsville, Tennessee a few months ago. I like Sam. He’s pretty brave for a scaredy-cat because he buys a pet that he’s actually scared of! I like his clever thinking and reasoning about going straight to grandma for permissions because even his mom has to listen to grandma since grandma is his mom’s mom. Kevin was born in Copenhagen and grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. Some of Sam Wu’s experiences are based on Kevin’s childhood (he’s feeling much more confident now). Katie was born and raised in Southern California. She has previously worked at Booktrust, the UK’s largest children’s reading charity, and also writes YA fiction as Katherine Webber.

It took me a couple of chapters to really get into the characters, but once I did the story really took off. It's silly without feeling ludicrous because the plot stays true to its main character: Sam. I continue to believe that characters can do outlandish things in believable ways as long as they always seem to grow organically out of who the character is. This is absolutely true in the case of Sam Wu. The book starts to tell us what happened that was so horrible. Well, it is pretty horrible, and tons of embarrassing. I can imagine that he doesn't want to go to school any more, I know I wouldn't have gone either. :( Then again, he did go into that machine, so in a way that was brave of him. It is just a shame his body betrayed him, otherwise he would have come out a hero.

Gerda is on the magical quest of a lifetime. Her best friend Kai has disappeared with the mysterious Snow Queen, and if Gerda doesn’t rescue him soon, he’ll be trapped in an endless winter forever. I started out reading this book to both of my boys (the 4-year-old and the 9-year-old together). The 9-year-old got too excited to wait on just one chapter a night, so he read ahead on his own and finished it almost immediately with huge delight - but then he asked me to keep on reading it out loud anyway. The 4-year-old got a bit too scared by the ghost-hunting in the climax of the book and asked for us to stop, so I wouldn't recommend this book for the really young end of chapter book readers - but I finally got the chance tonight to read the last four chapters out loud to my 9-year-old tonight, and we both absolutely loved them. (It was his second read, my first.) A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode. Ghostly silliness mixes with middle school adventure to make an exciting read which even reluctant readers are sure to enjoy.Katie and Kevin met in in 2008 while studying at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Since then they have lived on three different continents and travelled to over 40 countries together. They currently live in London. As well as the brilliant SAM WU series, Katie and Kevin also write magical middle grade fantasy series, DRAGON REALM. Disclaimer: Many thanks to Sterling Publishing for the opportunity to read and review. Please be assured that my opinions are honest.