Scritch Scratch by Lindsay Currie
Four out of Five Magical Coffee Cups
Chicago ghosts!
Claire’s dad runs a bus tour in Chicago. More specifically, a ghost tour in Chicago. His ghost stories are based around actual Chicago events (theatre fire, cemeteries, etc.) Claire doesn’t believe in all of the ghost stories, so she usually leaves it up to her dad and does her own thing. One evening, her dad asks her to help out. All she has to do is sit on the bus to ensure everyone has a ticket and gets off when they are supposed to. Pretty simple. At one stop, she sees a young boy on the bus. It’s not creepy, but the tours are for adults only. A kid should not be on this bus. She starts to figure out how he got on the bus and notices something about him that doesn’t look right. She waits at the end of the tour to see where he goes but doesn’t see him again. He vanished!
You would think that would be it, and Claire could go home and forget about this whole night. Nope! She starts to see and hear creepy things, and the number 396 keeps appearing. What does it mean? Claire decides to use her scientific mind to solve this mystery. I guessed the ending quickly, but I liked this book so much. I’m sure it had a lot to do with the Chicago ghost history. But I think any city’s ghost history would have gotten me to love this book. I do love creepy stories, and they are all the better when there is some truth mixed in as well.
I love spooky stories, so I was excited from the start. I also grew up near Chicago, so I loved all the history of Chicago throughout the book! I want to go on Claire’s family bus tour. I want to hear about ghosts! I want to read some books like this but based in different cities!
I could use this book at my school. I would love to pair this book with some primary sources. That could be a fun lesson!
Literary Coffee 