Geronimo Stilton: The Haunted Castle by Edzioni Piemme

Piemme, Edzioni. (2007). Geronimo Stilton: The Haunted Castle. Illustrated by Claudio Cernushi and Valentina Grassini. New York: Scholastic.

A comedic graphic novel, Geronimo Stilton: The Haunted Castle,  is one of a series of many books that follow a mouse journalist as he uncovers mysteries throughout his country, mostly by merely stumbling upon them. In my last internship, I saw one of the fifth grade students reading several different Geronimo Stilton books throughout the semester. Near the end of the semester, I asked her what she liked about them. She told me that they were easy AR points, they were funny, the pictures were great, they always had a good message, and you did not have to read the books in order. Having not even heard of the Geronimo Stilton books before spending time with this fifth grade class, I decided to read one myself for this blog. Everything she told me about the books was true!

Piemme takes the reader on a journey to a supposedly haunted castle for a secret ceremony for an unheard of relative that all turns out to be a fake scheme for one of the oldest relative to take possession of the castle and scare everyone so much that they don’t look into the situation too much. The story goes on to a giant two-mouse-family gathering where two mice- one from each family- fall in love with each other and get married, all told through Geronimo Stilton’s hilarious perspective. The reader can get a feel for the other characters’ personalities and habits because of Piemme’s easy wording and the graphic illustrations.

The illustrations on every page help guide the reader in understanding the mood of the story at any given point and the comedy of the moment. Claudio Cernushi was responsible for the pencil and ink portion of the illustrations and Valentina Grassini provided the color that really brought the pictures to life for the reader.

I think graphic novels like these Geronimo Stilton books are especially good for students who are struggling to read on grade level. I thought it would take me some time to read the 102 page chapter book, but it actually only took me an hour. The illustrations on every page make the reader, especially a struggling reader, think that they are reading a lot more than they actually are. This can be a great confidence booster in any classroom.