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Book Summary:
This book is a series of nine short stories tied together by the visit of a one Mike Kowalski to a cemetery for those who die too young. The first actually happens in his car on the way there. He unsuspectingly picks up the ghost of Carol Anne who died by drowning. She leaves her shoes in the car and Mike feels the need to take them to her home.Upon arriving he finds out that she has been dead for decades and the mother tells him he can take the shoes to her grave. There he is visited by nine other ghost who want to tell their death story. These stories are somewhat traditional and have classic elements from the non-believer who is killed by ghosts, a tale of a thief who is caught in the act, a character driven to their death by a possessed car, and the strange and tragic tale of the magic monkey paw. Each tale is slightly scary, but also has the element of reader beware. As in this could happen to you too. In the end it is revealed that Mike was saved by the Carol Anne's Ghost he was driving to fast if he had not stopped for her he would have driven off the bridge that was out and met his untimely end. In end the ghost seem to say slow down, live your life enjoy what we can never have.
APA Citation:
Fleming, C. (2012). On the day I died: Stories from the grave. New York, NY: Schwartz & Wade Books.
Impressions:
Entertaining is the first word I would use not scary to describe this book. The older ghost story elements were nostalgic, and wonderfully mixed in. The stories were also well placed in the book and worked well flowing from one story to the next. Ending with the most inventive story of all. Each story seems to take from the ghost story elements of the time the character dies adding to the creativity of each short story. Each ghost tale was a great length lending itself to more reluctant reader or those who would like a fast read. This book is rated for ages 10-13 and while I agree somewhat with that I would still, put this book clearly in the Young Adult range. While this story is not a macabre as I was expecting it was none the less well written and enjoyable.
Professional Review:
KIRKUS REVIEW
Nine creepy tales told by dead teens and positively tailor-made for reading—or reading aloud—by flashlight.
Fleming uses a version of “The Vanishing Hitchhiker” as a frame story and draws inspiration from several classic horror shorts, monster movies and actual locales and incidents. Within this frame, she sends a teenager into a remote cemetery where ghostly young people regale him with the ghastly circumstances of their demises. These range from being sucked into a magical mirror to being partially eaten by a mutant rubber ducky, from being brained by a falling stone gargoyle at an abandoned asylum to drowning in a car driven by a demonic hood ornament. Tasty elements include a malign monkey’s paw purchased at a flea market, a spider crawling out of a corpse’s mouth and a crazed florist who collects the heads of famous gangsters. Amid these, the author tucks in period details, offers one story written in the style of Edgar Allan Poe (“As I pondered the wallpaper, its patterns seemed to crawl deep inside me, revealing dark secrets… No!”) and caps the collection with perceptive comments on her themes and sources.
Light on explicit grue but well endowed with macabre detail and leavening dashes of humor.(Horror/short stories. 10-13)
ON THE DAY I DIED by Candace Fleming. (2012). Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved November 30, 2015, from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/candace-fleming/on-day-i-died/
Library Uses: I would use this book in a program in which the attendants would be read the ghost story from this book and the ghost story that inspired the tale. After this the group could then compare and contrast the tales and end with writing their own inspired ghost story.
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