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This book review of Gaelic Ghosts by Sorche Nic Leodhas will mainly suit those who are looking for something a little bit different in the genre of good ghost books for kids. Ghost books for kids are often so predictable these days, due to the popularity of the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling. These books or movies can be formulaic and can rely too heavily on technically artful plots or special effects which do all the imaginative work for the child. Many readers want to tap back into the source of the mysterious times that spawned the superstitions that nurtured the richly imaginative world of the true ghost story.

Sorche Nic Leodhas revisits these ancient times when few knew that the world was round, let alone what caused the wondrous effects of the Northern Lights, the fungal spores of the fairy toadstool rings or even the eerie sounds of the night creatures. What they didn't know, these people made up. Often stories were used for an ulterior motive - whether that was to frighten servants and children into obedience or to extract monetary gain from gullible ingenues in the way of cures and quackery. Either way, these stories, particularly in Scotland and other Gaelic countries, wove an entrancing, if rather fatalistic, spell on its people.

Superstition plays a large role in the telling of the author's version of the story about the tradition of 'Widdershins.' This tradition holds that it really matters which way you walk round the outside of a 'kirk' or church. Parishioners who need to carry out some task which involves this action must think carefully whether to walk clock-wise or anti-clockwise. Choose the wrong direction and the unwitting parishioner may walk straight into another invisible world, and what is worse, they won't know they are an invisible ghost until they realise no-one else can see them. Good ghost books for kids often engage their imagination by telling old superstitions such as trying not to step on the cracks in the sidewalk or touching wood when something tragic is mentioned. For some reason, kids love these little rituals.

Another spooky tale in Sorche Nic Leodhas's ghost book 'Gaelic Ghosts' concerns a tricky and greedy peasant farmer who hires a young lad from over the water in Ireland for tilling his land for the season. The homesick lad wants to return home... but the farmer refuses to pay him his dues. The boy is found stone dead under sacks on his bed in the bothy outside and the farmer has had a free season's work out of him. But the lad is not finished with him. Instead of enjoying his ill-gotten gains, the farmer's easy life starts to become affected by the onset of some sort of madness. He keeps hearing the whistling strains of the labouring lad's favorite Irish tune... even when there is nobody there...

Sorche Nic Leodhas certainly presents some ghost books for kids that have a very traditional Scottish flavor - and a difference. - just right for Hallowe'en or Burns Night activities!

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