Review - Sir Simon: Super Scarer

Sir Simon: Super Scarer
by Cale Atkinson
Date: 2018
Publisher: Tundra Books
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 46
Format: e-book
Source: library

A delightful, funny story of friendship, ghost chores, a spooky house and a professional haunter.

Meet Sir Simon, Super Scarer. He's a professional ghost who has been transferred to his first house. And just in time! He was getting tired of haunting bus stops and forests and potatoes. And to top it off, this house is occupied by an old lady -- they're the easiest to haunt!

But things don't go as planned when it turns out a KID comes with this old lady. Chester spots Simon immediately and peppers him with questions. Simon is exasperated. . . until he realizes he can trick Chester into doing his ghost chores. Spooky sounds, footsteps in the attic, creaks on the stairs -- these things don't happen on their own, you know!

After a long night of haunting, it seems that maybe Chester isn't cut out to be a ghost, so Simon decides to help with Chester's human chores. Turns out Simon isn't cut out for human chores either.

But maybe they're both cut out to be friends...

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This is a cute story about a ghost named Simon. He's a super scarer, taking his Ghost chores very seriously. After he gets assigned to haunt a house, he thinks things are going to be easy when a grandmother moves in. The problem, though, is that she's brought her grandson, Chester. Rather than being scared of Simon, Chester is curious about him. Too curious. To get the kid off his back, Simon enlists him as an honourary Ghost and gets him to take over all the Ghost chores (so Simon can do his cross-stitch and work on his novel, of course). Things don't go so well, though; Chester's not very good at Ghost chores... and, as it turns out, Simon's not very good at human chores. But the two eventually become friends and work to their own strengths.

The retro-style illustrations are pretty cute. There's lots to look at, especially on the spreads where the duo are depicted in various rooms of the house. The end papers are also a lot of fun. (And don't miss the illustration on the back cover if you want to crack a smile!)

This is a simple story about friendship, with just the right amount of spookiness and humour for the Halloween season.

Quotable moment:

Premise: 3/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 4/5

Enjoyment: 4/5

Overall: 3.67 out of 5