Ghost in the Closet

Ghost in the Closet is a story in rhyme aimed at chasing away the all-too-frequent nighttime fears experienced by young children.

A little girl is certain that there is a ghost in her bedroom closet. Her parents try a soothing sleep routine and, following another alarm, a variety of methods to make the threat go away.

Mom and Dad smiled and calmed the young girl.
Dad got his flashlight and gave it a twirl
with his fingers before clicking it on.
but that ghost in the closet was already gone.

[The bold-face type on the last word in each line is meant to represent the actual emphasis used in the print on the pages of the book.]

Mom’s plant sprayer, standing in for a ghost-away potion, seems to work for a bit, but then the monster is back. So the girl tries the spray herself.

“Back, ghost, back! Back where you came from!
Or I’ll spray you with this potion I got from my Mom!”
The ghost’s large eyes glowed in the dark.
It slowly crept forward and let out a BARK!

Oh, my, it’s not a ghost at all but the family’s little dog.

This well-worn plot accompanied by some lumpy versifying is illustrated with the author’s pale and unsophisticated illustrations of household interior scenes. The most successful picture is the one that goes with the passage above, showing a pair of yellow eyes in the dark doorway. There are also shadow images of a knight in armour and a lady in a long gown in various poses on the walls that recur throughout the book, images which are rather confusing as they are not referred to anywhere in the text.