From School Library Journal
Grade 3-5-Horror fans will enjoy this pleasantly scary story. Jenny is terrified of the old house that Mrs. Nagle, an elderly family friend, has bequeathed to her mother. Odd sounds and strange sights have convinced her that it's haunted. However, her sensible, widowed mother sees this gift as a wonderful opportunity to get out of their cramped apartment and makes light of her daughter's claims. Jenny, with the help of Mrs. Nagle's cat, meets the ghost of the woman's grandmother-the once well-known witch of Willowby Lane. After years of being ignored, the cantankerous old phantom is delighted to have a youngster to haunt. The girl talks her into moving to a residence that a neighbor is setting up for a Halloween benefit. The local kids are truly scared out of their wits, the event raises money for charity, the witch is exhausted but happy, and the heroine is free to live in a no-longer haunted home. Readers will enjoy the imaginative pranks of the specter and the resourceful way that the child conquers her fear and solves her problem. The story is smoothly written, and the preadolescent characters are involved in believable relationships and interchanges.
Anne Connor, Los Angeles Public LibraryCopyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Gr. 3-5. Jenny and her mother have been left a lovely old house, one that will at last provide Jenny with her own room. But while Jenny and her mother are readying the house for the move, Jenny comes face-to-face with a ghost, the Witch of Willowby Lane, who is delighted she will be having a new young resident to haunt. It takes some ingenuity, but Jenny discovers a way to make everyone happy--the witch gets a new ghosting gig at a Halloween haunted house, and Jenny and her mother get a spook-free home. Simply written with large type, this is a step up from beginning chapter books and should find a wide-ranging audience. A picture per chapter breaks up the text, but the art sometimes depicts hauntings that would have been better left to the imagination.
Ilene Cooper
