Freddie McFright is eager to join SPIRIT (The Society of Paranormal, Invisible, and Restless Imps and Terrors). His grandfather was a founding member of the group and one of its elite scarers. To prove himself, Freddie receives an invitation to haunt a family that attributes typical ghost behavior to science. Will Freddie succeed and achieve his dream?
This story is perfect for Halloween season or any time of the year. It's filled with some scare and lots of humor, love and goodwill.
The story also highlights a young boy's autonomy and how he perseveres and solves problems as he strives to reach his goals. And the book offers insights into the beauty of what happens when we notice and appreciate differences.
I appreciated the reader discussion questions at the end. The illustrations were cute, too.

Short and funny, with great illustrations, but a little too short to really make an impact on me. I love the idea of seeing what's normal everyday for a ghoulish family at the beginning. I had to reread the ending because it went past my head at first. Great premise, but it needs a little more meat on its bones.

** “We suspect that the Schmitzes are suffering from a serious case of SAD (Severe Apparition Denial). I know this is a very scary trend, but we here at SPIRIT are committed to stopping the cycle and getting back to the business of freaking humans out — the way it’s meant to be.” **

Freddie McFright isn’t sure he has what it takes to scare humans. But when he receives an invitation to join the organization his grandfather founded — the Society of Paranormal, Invisible, and Restless Imps and Terrors (SPIRIT) — he visits the home of the Schmitz family as his assignment for initiation.

But as he tries more and more techniques to scare them, he keeps failing as the family explains away every situation scientifically. Will Freddie find the will to scare them? Will he succeed and be able to join SPIRIT?

“Freddie McFright’s Chilling Night” by Avery Spooks is a fun, but very short, children’s tale that will delight readers of all ages. The illustrations by Mariano Epelbaum are equally fun and add immensely to the story. The book, which is due out Aug. 1, also contains some good lessons, like never give up and always strive to make people proud of us.

Five stars out of five.

Jolly Fish Press provided this complimentary copy through NetGalley for my honest, unbiased review.

This was an extremely short read that was not spooky at all, as I expected it to be. I didn’t dislike it, but I don’t really enjoy it, either. I feel very neutral about it. Freddie wants very badly to follow in his famous grandfathers footsteps as a scarer, and you wonder if he will be able to achieve this goal as he doesn’t seem like he’s the type of ghost that is very capable of scaring anyone as he seems quite timid. And the family he is given to scare is the most practical and logical family I’ve even seen. So it’s quite the challenge for Freddie to be able to convince them that ghosts exist, but never the less he persists in his goal to achieve his dream. I was pleasantly surprised by the ending. I don’t see myself reading any other books if this is a series, but it was a nice, quick little read, even if it wasn’t one of my favorites.

A simple story about a boy who is supposed to scare but is scared. I have been looking for spooky stories for kids and this does tick some boxes for me. It has scary elements without being nightmare inducing. Good for early readers.

I really loved this book and it reminded me of a few I read as a child. I will definitely be reading more from Avery Spooks in the future.

It is a humorous and quite wonderfully illustrated story I am happy to have read as an ARC. I had a lot of fun reading about Freddie, his family and the business they have. It’s also something you can read rather quickly for in between. I really enjoyed this one.

This was a cute middle grade story about a young ghoul who needs to scare a family so he can get into SPIRIT which is important since his grandfather is part of it. Things just don't go as planned though and it was funny reading about all the ways he is trying to scare the family and it not working.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and the publishers for allowing me the opportunity to read this e-arc.