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Grandma’s House is Haunted
Written by Stephen G. Bowling
Illustrated by Vitali Dudarenka
Ages 4+ | 34 Pages
Publisher: Valley of Mexico | ISBN-13: 9781950957248
Publisher’s Book Summary: Everything is fun until nighttime comes. Are the howls in the dark only in their imaginations, or do ghosts and goblins become real when the full moon rises?
The children love visiting Grandmother. Playing great games and reading cool books goes perfectly with eating her delicious cookies and cakes. But when bedtime comes and off go the lights, things get a little scary as they say their goodnights.
The kids shiver at the creepy sounds from the attic and the strange shadows floating through the air. But Gran’s not worried at all; in fact, she has a secret to share…
Will they find a way to get over their dread, so they can finally rest their heads?
Grandma’s House is Haunted is a delightful children’s picture book, both spooky and sweet. If you like Halloween fun, bumps in the night, and doting grannies, then you’ll adore Stephen G. Bowling’s cheerfully eerie Picture Book that shows children there’s nothing to be afraid of when the lights go out.
Read Grandma’s House is Haunted to happily hide under the covers today!
Available for purchase on Amazon, Bookshop, and Barnes and Noble.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stephen G. Bowling is an award-winning author, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Much like Peter Pan, Steve never wanted to grow up. Or rather, while he didn’t mind getting older, he never wanted to lose the child-like enchantment of imagination and wonder. Creating colorful worlds and stories for children has allowed Steve to both preserve his own imagination while sharing the joy of learning with children worldwide.
Steve has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Brandeis University. He is an entrepreneur who has worked on and holds several U.S. Patents. He heads The Prometheum Foundation, a non-profit philosophical organization that helps teach students critical and analytical thinking, freedom of thought, and entrance into the marketplace of ideas. He is a lifelong weightlifter, an avid student of history and philosophy, and has a fascination with astrophysics.
Discover more about the author by:
- Visiting his website: stephengbowling.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stephengbowling
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephengbowling
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Life Is What It's Called - What is the theme of Grandma's House is Haunted, and why is it important?
Stephen G. Bowling - Grandma’s House is Haunted deals with childhood fears of the dark, especially at night. Children have wonderful imaginations that can sometimes play havoc in dim light, and with the unknown under the bed. It certainly did in my childhood. Grandma’s House is Haunted is a fun story that both children and adults can relate to. The story helps children realize there is nothing to be afraid of when the lights go out. When reading the book, children can feel safe and have fun being spooked while exploring fears of dark corners and “strange” noises in the night, and realize the ghosts and goblins are only in their imaginations.
Life Is What It's Called - What do you think kids will like most about it?
Stephen G. Bowling - Kids like spooky things, especially around Halloween, and there are plenty in the book. I think they will relate to the descriptions of what the children in the story are imagining. They will also enjoy delving into the rich detail in the illustrations. As a child I loved looking for all the detail in a drawing, and I still do as an adult.
Life Is What It's Called - How is this Grandma's House is Haunted similar and different to the other books you've written?
Stephen G. Bowling - This book is similar in that the characters find themselves with a problem which is then resolved by the end. As with most of my books, I use rhyming verse to tell the story. I like rhyming verse because it is fun to read and to hear if the story is read to you. Rhyming verse helps children understand the concept of language which helps them learn to read.
The book differs from my others in the subject matter, childhood fears of the dark. My previous books mostly focus on childhood adventures. This book is different in that my main characters are people rather than animals or trees.
Life Is What It's Called - How is this book different from other "spooky" picture books by other
authors?
Stephen G. Bowling - To be honest, I really don’t know. I didn’t write it with any other books in mind, and I admit I haven’t read any.
The book is based on my own experiences as a child visiting my paternal grandmother, who lived in West Virginia. We lived in Connecticut and would travel about twice a year to see her and would stay with her for the trip. She was wonderful and I loved seeing her. But at night her old West Virginia house made a lot of noises; grunts and groans from the pipes and radiators, creaks from the house settling. I wrote the book from recollections of my own fears of those noises, which conjured up all sorts of ghosts and monsters in my imagination. Having a love for monster movies at the time didn’t help. The book delves into feelings of staying in an unfamiliar, albeit beloved, setting especially at night. It also deals with loving adult figures who help us through our fears and plights, as real or imaginary as they might be.
Life Is What It's Called - How do you balance the right amount of spookiness in this book without making it seem too scary?
Stephen G. Bowling - That’s a good question and an important one for a writer. I want children to enjoy the story and have fun while helping them understand that their fears of the dark are created by their own imaginations. I certainly didn’t want the book to create fears by being too scary.
I am always very judicious and careful choosing the words I use when I write. I was especially mindful in this story. Most children are familiar with scary things like ghosts and goblins, particularly through their exposure to Halloween, so I could use a lot of standard scary figures in creative ways. I had thought of using a verse with a “demon” and then decided not to, as it seemed too adult, too scary. I have a few silly descriptions of some of the monsters like “wolves wearing raincoats.” This fits the story as it plays on the imagination children have seeing odd or silly things in dim light, and makes it less scary at the same time. The illustrator did a great job in making the phantoms and monsters child friendly, spooky but not too scary.
The story, the spookiness and unease, the excitement that comes with being scared, builds on scary descriptions of specters and ghosts in the first half of the book. Then Grandma comes to the rescue. All the fears the children have are removed as everything is explained. Everyone is happy and can go to sleep.
Life Is What It's Called - What can you tell us about you as an author?
Stephen G. Bowling - That I hope my stories and books are as fun for children and adults to read as they are for me to write. Childhood is a magical time and should be full of wonderful memories. I write books that I want children to enjoy and remember fondly into adulthood.
Life Is What It's Called - What writing projects are you working on next?
Stephen G. Bowling - My illustrator is currently painting my next book Winslow Scarecrow, which deals with a dilemma the Scarecrows are having about whether they should scare crows or not. I just finished writing a story about Mr. Foulweather, a grumpy, old grump who yells at the Moon every night. Just the idea of someone yelling at the Moon makes me smile. My illustrator will work on that one next. I have also been creating a comic book project which has a game component added to it: a sci-fi adventure for older kids and adults with an interesting point of difference.
Stephen G. Bowling - To be honest, I really don’t know. I didn’t write it with any other books in mind, and I admit I haven’t read any.
The book is based on my own experiences as a child visiting my paternal grandmother, who lived in West Virginia. We lived in Connecticut and would travel about twice a year to see her and would stay with her for the trip. She was wonderful and I loved seeing her. But at night her old West Virginia house made a lot of noises; grunts and groans from the pipes and radiators, creaks from the house settling. I wrote the book from recollections of my own fears of those noises, which conjured up all sorts of ghosts and monsters in my imagination. Having a love for monster movies at the time didn’t help. The book delves into feelings of staying in an unfamiliar, albeit beloved, setting especially at night. It also deals with loving adult figures who help us through our fears and plights, as real or imaginary as they might be.
Life Is What It's Called - How do you balance the right amount of spookiness in this book without making it seem too scary?
Stephen G. Bowling - That’s a good question and an important one for a writer. I want children to enjoy the story and have fun while helping them understand that their fears of the dark are created by their own imaginations. I certainly didn’t want the book to create fears by being too scary.
I am always very judicious and careful choosing the words I use when I write. I was especially mindful in this story. Most children are familiar with scary things like ghosts and goblins, particularly through their exposure to Halloween, so I could use a lot of standard scary figures in creative ways. I had thought of using a verse with a “demon” and then decided not to, as it seemed too adult, too scary. I have a few silly descriptions of some of the monsters like “wolves wearing raincoats.” This fits the story as it plays on the imagination children have seeing odd or silly things in dim light, and makes it less scary at the same time. The illustrator did a great job in making the phantoms and monsters child friendly, spooky but not too scary.
The story, the spookiness and unease, the excitement that comes with being scared, builds on scary descriptions of specters and ghosts in the first half of the book. Then Grandma comes to the rescue. All the fears the children have are removed as everything is explained. Everyone is happy and can go to sleep.
Life Is What It's Called - What can you tell us about you as an author?
Stephen G. Bowling - That I hope my stories and books are as fun for children and adults to read as they are for me to write. Childhood is a magical time and should be full of wonderful memories. I write books that I want children to enjoy and remember fondly into adulthood.
Life Is What It's Called - What writing projects are you working on next?
Stephen G. Bowling - My illustrator is currently painting my next book Winslow Scarecrow, which deals with a dilemma the Scarecrows are having about whether they should scare crows or not. I just finished writing a story about Mr. Foulweather, a grumpy, old grump who yells at the Moon every night. Just the idea of someone yelling at the Moon makes me smile. My illustrator will work on that one next. I have also been creating a comic book project which has a game component added to it: a sci-fi adventure for older kids and adults with an interesting point of difference.
GIVEAWAY
Enter for the chance to win a set of five books by Stephen G. Bowling, including Grandma’s House Is Haunted, and a $25.00 Amazon Gift Card!
One (1) grand prize winner receives:
- A paperback copy of Grandma's House is Haunted
- A paperback copy of Calvin the Christmas Tree
- A paperback copy of Simon's Tree Party
- A paperback copy of Simon's Search for the Scary Dragon
- A paperback copy of Rocket to the Moon
- A $25 Amazon Gift Card
- A paperback copy of Grandma's House is Haunted
- A paperback copy of Calvin the Christmas Tree
- A paperback copy of Simon's Tree Party
- A paperback copy of Simon's Search for the Scary Dragon
- A paperback copy of Rocket to the Moon
- A paperback copy of Grandma's House is Haunted
Grandma's House Is Haunted Book Giveaway
This post is sponsored by Stephen Bowling. The review and opinions expressed in this post are based on my personal view.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to share my opinion.
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