Frightfully Friendly Ghosties: Phantom Pirates

Pamela Fraidy has won a holiday competition for a cruise. This means it is ‘holler-day’ time for the six friendly ghosties. However, things don’t go at all smoothly. First they miss the cruise ship. Then, they try to catch up with it by hitching a ride on the Raggy Dolly. But the Raggy Dolly turns out to be a ghost pirate ship, and they are taken prisoner by the unfriendly ghost pirates. These ghost pirates then invade the cruise ship which is full of ‘still-alives’. Pamela and her friends escape with a still-alive boy, and together they rescue the other still-alives and the cruise ship, towing them back to shore with the help of some friendly mermaids.

Phantom Pirates is part of the ‘Frightfully Friendly Ghosties’ series, but it can easily be read on its own. It is a very enjoyable comic fantasy story. The use of ghosts as main characters is a clever and inventive idea that enables them to get into some incredibly funny but very strange situations. Their very human characteristics also work well, making the story suitable for young confident readers.