A Banquet For Hungry Ghosts

Reader: Meghan K
Age: 14
Title: A Banquet For Hungry Ghosts
Author: Ying Chang Compestine
Publisher: Henry Holt
Pub Date: Sep. 2009
Galley: Yes
Did the cover reflect the contents: I like the cover for this book. It's a skeleton hand holding chopsticks. Made of Win.
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to read the book: A Banquet For Hungry Ghosts is a collection of original ghost stories centered around the Chinese belief that people who die hungry remain that way: starving and vengeful. Each of the book's eight stories (eight is a lucky number in China) centers around a particular dish, and includes historical notes and a recipe for the dish.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: I fall under the broad umbrella of people who like ghost stories, but are too easily spooked to really enjoy them. This is why I like this book so much, the ghost stories are spooky, but not so scary that I can't get to sleep at night (Yes, I am that big of a wuss). People who love horror stories might find A Banquet for Hungry Ghosts a bit tame, but I enjoyed it immensely.
Did the cover reflect the contents: I like the cover for this book. It's a skeleton hand holding chopsticks. Made of Win.
Did you finish: Yes
Were you disappointed with the book at all: My one drawback with this book is that a few of the stories are a mite predictable. But if that's really my biggest complaint, I should really stop whining.
Age Range: Under 12, 12-13, 14-15
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 3P Some teen appeal