# The Ghost Who Couldn't Say Boo

A very small, very polite ghost named Mallow can only manage a tiny boo and a hiccup. When a nervous new girl moves into the old house on Lantern Hill, the two help each other find out what they are good at.

Ages 4–8. 6 chapters, about 29 minutes.

## What happens

Mallow is a tiny, polite ghost who lives in the attic of an old house on Lantern Hill. Every Halloween the ghosts of the hill float out to say a mighty BOO, but Mallow can only manage a whisper and a hiccup. Then a nervous girl named Nora moves in downstairs, and she is not sure about the creaky stairs, the ticking walls or the dark lanes.

The two become friends and help each other. Mallow explains what every noise in the house really is, Nora makes a ghost costume that glows from the inside, and on Halloween night, when the wind blows out every jack-o'-lantern on the hill, Mallow discovers what a very small ghost is good at. Six chapters, about half an hour in all.

## From Chapter 1

> At the very top of the old gray house on Lantern Hill, there was an attic. In the attic lived a ghost named Mallow.
>
> Mallow was small. Mallow was about as big as a pillow, and about as fluffy, too. When Mallow floated through the dark, a soft white glow floated along beside, like a night-light that had learned to drift.
>
> Mallow was also very polite. Mallow said please to the dust and thank you to the cobwebs. When a spider walked across the rafters, Mallow said, "Excuse me, after you."
>
> But tonight was not a polite night. Tonight was practice night.
>
> "Halloween is almost here," said a deep, rumbly voice. "Everyone out to the oak tree!"
>
> That was Old Gus. Old Gus was the biggest ghost on the whole hill, and his boo could rattle windows. Every year, on Halloween night, the ghosts of Lantern Hill floated out over the rooftops and said BOO. It was an old and happy tradition. Nobody got hurt. People just shivered, and then they laughed, and then they ate more candy.

## Chapters

1. A Tiny Boo
2. The Girl Downstairs
3. What the Stairs Say
4. The Best Costume
5. The Wind on Lantern Hill
6. The Best Boo of All