Boo! Hiss!

This graphic novel chapter book is a fun example of the actualization of the expression, “Beware of what you ask for because you might just get it.” Phyllis, a ghost, and Sheldon, a snake, have, for years and years, been the sole inhabitants of an old empty house at the top of a dead-end street. Then, a moving van appears suddenly, and a family of four, plus a dog, move in. “The people touch the ghost’s and the snake’s favorite stuff... And the people make a lot of noise...” Self-exiled to the attic, the pair decide they must reclaim their home by scaring these usurpers away through employing their respective frightening “Boo!” and “Hiss” sounds, with their first target being the family’s baby. However, instead of being scared by the duo, the infant treats them like rough and tumble playthings. Their next target, the family’s school-aged son, has his face so firmly planted in a book he is reading that he apparently isn’t even aware of them (though Marko’s illustrations tell a different story). Then it’s on to the parents, but again Phyllis and Sheldon strike out.

Though Phyllis and Sheldon had previously lived together harmoniously (mostly) for decades, their failure to frighten the family away leads to discord with Sheldon suggesting that perhaps they should share the house, an idea Phyllis immediately rejects while blaming their lack of success on Sheldon’s not being sufficiently scary. Ironically, it is the pair’s unplanned and ongoing noisy attic bickering that convinces the family that the house actually is haunted, and they post a “FOR SALE CHEAP” sign. However, in their apparent win, Phyllis and Sheldon come to realize they might have actually lost as they have unconsciously become players within the ongoing happenings of the family. Wanting these warm feelings to continue, the twosome successfully implement an “Un-Scare Plan”.

The main text provides the story thread while the speech bubbles and the illustrations fill in the finer details. For example, when the text reads: “The ghost and the snake are almost ready to give up.”, the following exchange occurs via speech bubbles:

[Sheldon] “Phyllis? My tummy hurts. It’s not nice to scare the people.”

[Phyllis] “But this is our house.”

[Sheldon] “Maybe we can share? The attic is cozy. I like it up here.”

[Phyllis] ”No way! We were here first! Why should we share?!”

[Phyllis] “You know what the problem is? You’re not scary!”

[Sheldon] “WHAT?!”

Marko’s renderings of the two characters’ above conversation accurately reflects the pair’s current moods with a coiled, but deflated-looking, Sheldon being towered over by a hovering Phyllis who has one “arm” firmly planted on her hip while the other is extended in an accusatory manner towards a somewhat cowering Sheldon.

For readers just moving on from picture books to chapter books, Boo! Hiss! would serve as a good bridge.