Author: Ruth Ainsworth

Illustrated: Shirley Hughes

Published: 1977

Format: Hardback

Pages: 173

Suitable: Middle to Upper Primary

The Phantom Roundabout: For Silas' uncle the fair was just another annual event. But for Silas the yearly ride on the painted roundabout horse, Pegasus, was a strange and mystical experience - almost as if he was riding the winged horse itself.

A Sprig Of Rosemary: Joanna is lucky enough to be allowed to play in the big garden next door, and there she finds a strange companion, Rosemary, dressed in curiously old-fashioned clothes. Only the smell of the herb after which she is named can help Rosemary remember who she is.

Give Me My Bone: Timmy couldn't think of anything to collect until he hit on the idea of bones. Unfortunately, however, he managed to acquire a leg bone that belonged to someone else - and its rightful owner soon came along to claim it.

Ruth Ainsworth's third collection of ghostly tales has all the virtues that made "The Phantom Cyclist" and "The Phantom Fisher boy" so successful: variety of setting, ghosts whose characters are as real as the modern children who encounter them and a satisfying attention to the sort of detail that gives substance to the stories and makes them memorable.

Once again, Shirley Hughes has contributed line drawings which manage to make her ghostly figures belong in the world they have re-entered.