On the Day I Died: Stories from the Grave

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On the Day I Died: Stories from the Grave

3.56 of 5 stars 3.56 · rating details · 445 ratings · 177 reviews

"Positively tailor-made for reading—or reading aloud—by flashlight," declares Kirkus Reviews in a starred review.

The phenomenally versatile, award-winning author, Candace Fleming, gives teen and older tween readers ten ghost stories sure to send chills up their spines. Set in White Cemetery, an actual graveyard outside Chicago, each story takes place during a different ti...more

Hardcover, 208 pages

Published July 10th 2012 by Schwartz & Wade

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Jul 28, 2012 ☆Jessie☆ (Ageless Pages Reviews) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, netgalley-arc, short-stories, supernatural-fiction, 2012-reviews, 2012-reads, reviewed

Read This Review & More Like It On My Blog!

This is a creepy love-letter to Chicago, its history and to teens who love to hear things go bump in the night. Though I am slightly too old to be really creeped out by this collection of ten, often vastly different, stories of death and often weirdness (exception: Edgar's story was deceptively creepy and a nice ode to Edgar Allan Poe), I greatly enjoyed this unique frame for short stories. I'm not going to lie, the introduction/the first few pages...more

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Feb 21, 2013 Rebecca rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, cemeteries-fiction, dead-fiction, ghosts, grade-5, grade-6, grade-7, grade-8, junior-high-fiction, middle-school-fiction, young-adult, illinois-fiction

In the end, I'd recommend this book because there's a wide audience for ghost stories. However, I didn't like it much. On the Day I Died contains ten chapters, nine of which are self-contained stories from different ghosts about how they died. It's got a little bit of almost everything (but not the trendy vampires and zombies). And though that might actually be a selling point, for me it was distracting. The first story drew me in because it was fairly realistic and reminded me of some famous Ch...more

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Jan 25, 2013 Deborah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror, young-adult

Mark is driving home, passed his curfew, when he comes to a bridge. His cell phone is ringing (probably his mom calling to chew him out for being late), but he ignores it to help a girl, dripping wet standing on the bridge. He offers to drive her home and she accepts. She has him drop her off at the beginning of a dirt driveway. As he is pulling away, he sees she left her brand new saddle shoes in the car. He ignores his still ringing phone to take the shoes to her house. At the house he learns...more

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Dec 20, 2012 Curses rated it 2 of 5 stars

Whenever I read children's or YA lit--which is probably too often for someone who can see 30 on the horizon--I give ratings based on what I would've thought when I was in the book's target demographic. Still, even from eight-year-old me's perspective, this book was trite. The slang and imagery used to differentiate the time periods/stories were forced; I remember having to write stories like them in Language Arts and Social Studies in which you had to include every term from a word bank, and the...more

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Dec 19, 2012 Barbara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: abusive-relationships, community, death, fantasy, families, friendship, multiple-narrators, ncbla2013, teachers, travel

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Oct 27, 2012 Vernon Area Public Library rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: junior-high-fiction, horror

Driving home late one night; out past his curfew, teenager Mike Kowalski is in a hurry to get home, when suddenly a girl appears in his headlights. Dripping wet and cold on a deserted road – he can’t just leave her – so he offers her a ride home. Only “home” turns out to be a cemetery and the girl, Carol Anne, has been dead since 1956. Buried in a special section reserved for teens, she is joined by eight other youthful ghosts who gather ‘round to share with Mike the stories of their last day on...more

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Sep 24, 2012 readknitread rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror, middle-school-reads, high-school-reads, short-stories, supernatural, historical-fiction, fantasy

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Sep 21, 2012 Vivian Xia rated it 5 of 5 stars

On The Day I Died is a collection of stories that are formed to be one book. The story has to do with ghosts and a boy named Mike. Mike was led to a graveyard where several ghosts needed to tell their stories of death. Some of the stories were pretty realistic and easy to understand such as a girl who died in a fire set by a classmate, or the one about a boy who had been shot by the police because people thought he was a madman. There were also the really fun, totally untrue stories. One example...more

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Sep 21, 2012 Rachel rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Before I start my proper review, I need to point out a little something about this book. On The Day I Died is a collection of short stories within one story. Now, I know that barely makes any sense so I'll try to make what I'm saying a tad clearer. The book starts off with Mike, a teenage boy rushing home late one night as it's past his curfew. After a series of 'events' leads him to a graveyard, he meets a group of ghosts who, one at a time, go on to narrate the story (in first person) behind e...more Before I start my proper review, I need to point out a little something about this book. On The Day I Died is a collection of short stories within one story. Now, I know that barely makes any sense so I'll try to make what I'm saying a tad clearer. The book starts off with Mike, a teenage boy rushing home late one night as it's past his curfew. After a series of 'events' leads him to a graveyard, he meets a group of ghosts who, one at a time, go on to narrate the story (in first person) behind each of their deaths.

One thing I pride myself on is that, given the chance and if the book appeals to me, I will read a horror/paranormal/ghost book. I love scaring myself silly with horror movies so I suppose that's why I don't mind so much with those types of books. However, I will warn you in advance; do not read this book after your family has gone to bed! It's not terrifying as such - it is recommended for eleven year olds and up after all - but if you have an overactive imagination (like myself) then every creak upstairs turns into the boogeyman coming after you! ;3

Each of the stories were unique and likeable, but if I were to pick a favourite, it would probably be either Gina's or Evelyn's. Admittedly, those aren't the creepiest stories (Johnnie's probably wins that round) but, for some reason, I really enjoyed them. The ending to Evelyn's story, although sad, was a little touching too. As was Lily's. But I'd be here all day if I were to go into detail about each one. Instead I'll just tell you that each narrator has an individual voice and an unusual story to tell. You'll want to read this book first-hand to know where I'm coming from though! ;) And just to intrigue you even more... I hope you get your happy ending, Lily!

Oh yes, another thing that might interest you. Each of these ghost stories contains a little truth. At the end - in 'A Note from the Author' - Fleming goes on to tell us facts about the parts of each story that were based on the truth. It's actually really interesting as where this book is set, Chicago, is where Fleming lives. For instance, White Cemetery (the graveyard this book's set in), is just outside of her city! But enough of my rambling.

So with Halloween just around the corner, On The Day I Died is the perfect read for after your trick-or-treating. ;) With unique, unusual stories and a bunch of individual, different voices, this book would be perfect if you're stuck in the house bored. Even though it's not made it into my favourites, it's still a likeable read. If this appeals to you, go for it - it'll only take a few hours out of your time anyway! :)(less)

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Sep 06, 2012 Nick rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult-fiction, young-adult-fantasy

This is a collection of ghost stories, in that they are stories being told BY ghosts, to a still-living listener. That's creepy enough as a premise, but each one died pretty horribly, and the reader gets all the gross and gruesome details, which is perfect for this book.
The writing of these stories was good, but I found some of them to be oddly unsatisfying in terms of their resolutions. I think my problem with them was that in a good folktale, urban legend or ghost story, the punishment in some...more

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Aug 21, 2012 Jennifer Haight rated it 3 of 5 stars

(Really 3.5 stars)

Mike Kowalski is driving when a girl appears in the road. He stops to take her home and ends up meeting a series of ghosts who died as teenagers in different ways, in different eras all around the Chicago area. Each chapter segues into the next as the ghosts tell their own tales in their own voices about their lives and deaths.

The setting is both a strength and weakness. For adults that live in or are familiar with the Chicago area the discussions of familiar landmarks, (Wrigle...more

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Aug 14, 2012 Cathy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, lia, quinn

Excellent ghost stories/urban legends brought into the future story. I listened to the stories and loved that each dead teens story is told by a different narrator. Mike is running late to get home and almost hits a "girl in a white dress". Only her shoes are left which he takes to the nearest house and is greeted by the girl's mother who tells him her daughter has been dead for years. He should go to the girl's grave and leave the shoes. At the graveyard, Mike has to listen to the stories of 7...more

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Aug 11, 2012 David rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: summer-2012-childrens-ya

I'm having a hard time deciding where to rate this book- at the end of the day I wish I could give it 3.5 stars. Candace Fleming is a very, very good writer. Her stories are impressive in their variety and in the subtle ways she shows her historical research. And a few of them are genuinely creepy.

But...

I have a problem with authors using "fake" profanity. If a character is going to use profanity, then by all means let them use profanity. All of the characters narrarating their stories about the...more

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Jul 09, 2012 Sharon Tyler rated it 4 of 5 stars

On the Day I Died: Stories from the Grave by Candace Fleming is a middle grade and young adult book scheduled for release on July 10 2012. I would recommend it for older children, around eleven through middle and high school students due to the ages of the protagonists and spooky nature. The frame of the story is one teenage boy's drive home. Mike is driving home, too fast and not paying enough attention to the road. A girl on the road brings him to a stop, and despite his mother's repeated phon...more On the Day I Died: Stories from the Grave by Candace Fleming is a middle grade and young adult book scheduled for release on July 10 2012. I would recommend it for older children, around eleven through middle and high school students due to the ages of the protagonists and spooky nature. The frame of the story is one teenage boy's drive home. Mike is driving home, too fast and not paying enough attention to the road. A girl on the road brings him to a stop, and despite his mother's repeated phone calls, he drives her home. This encounter gets stranger, and brings him to the girl's grave to return her shoes. There he is surrounded by their graves, and ghosts, of teens that died far too young and need to tell the tales of how they died. Some tales have a supernatural leaning, others ironic, and others tragic. In the background there are historical facts offered in a way that will capture the imagination. The stories are engaging and just creepy enough to give you goosebumps, but not to keep readers awake at night.

Who doesn't love a good ghost story? On the Day I Died bundles short ghost stories in the frame of another. It works beautifully. The stories contain threads of real events, real places, and urban legends woven together to create a fascinating whole. I loved that the cemetery where the story telling takes place is real, and has stories about hauntings surrounding it. While most of the urban legends and historical locations are from the Chicago area, most are ones that can still resonate with readers that have never been near Chicago. Doesn't every area have a legend about a ghostly girl getting a ride home? In my area she leaves behind a shawl or jacket rather than her shoes, but the idea is the same. Despite the local history and landmarks of Chicago used, most of these stories could happen anywhere, if you believe in that sort of thing of course.

I highly recommend On the Day I Died to readers age eleven and older, including teens and adults. I think middle school and high school aged students that like scary stories and ghost stories will be very happy with this book. I felt nostalgic, thinking of the Goosebumps book series (which is still going strong) and television show (which I have seen reappear) that I fondly remember being first released. Those that like the Scary Story series of short story collections, will love this book. Anyone that likes ghost stories, urban legends, and spooky tales will enjoy this collection.(less)

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Jun 28, 2012 Ms. Yockey marked it as to-read

Random House
July 2012
Net galley

Booklist (May 15, 2012 (Vol. 108, No. 18))
Grades 7-10. Late one dark night, teenage Mike Kowalski drives to a deserted cemetery to return a pair of old-fashioned saddle shoes to a grave (don’t ask). Once there he is horrified to find himself surrounded by the ghosts of the many teenagers buried there, all of them, er, dying to tell him their stories. In one a wise guy uncovers an ancient curse; in another a boy enters a long-abandoned asylum for the insane; in yet...more Random House
July 2012
Net galley

Booklist (May 15, 2012 (Vol. 108, No. 18))
Grades 7-10. Late one dark night, teenage Mike Kowalski drives to a deserted cemetery to return a pair of old-fashioned saddle shoes to a grave (don’t ask). Once there he is horrified to find himself surrounded by the ghosts of the many teenagers buried there, all of them, er, dying to tell him their stories. In one a wise guy uncovers an ancient curse; in another a boy enters a long-abandoned asylum for the insane; in yet another a girl encounters a hoarder’s House of Usher. Set in Chicago, each of these nine eerie ghost stories, Fleming explains, contains a kernel of truth about its setting—a city that, she notes, is “the spookiest place I know.” Thus, in one story Al Capone makes a cameo appearance, and both the cemetery featured in the frame story and the terrifying old insane asylum really do exist. It is the combination of reality and imagination that lends a certain grave-itas (!) to these nine spectral stories. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Fleming’s books for young readers, be they nonfiction, novels, or picture books, are always met with much anticipation.

Kirkus Reviews starred (May 1, 2012)
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)

Publishers Weekly (May 21, 2012)
Dead men may tell no tales, but dead teenagers do. In this clever collection of ghost stories, 16-year-old Mike Kowalski discovers an abandoned cemetery for teenagers where nine 15- to 17-year-old ghosts tell him how they died. The stories span 100-odd years and give a colorful survey of Chicago through the decades and across classes ("Back in those days, Chicago was lousy with funeral homes, what with all them gangsters running around"). Fleming has been rightly praised for her children's nonfiction (Amelia Lost; The Great and Only Barnum), and underneath this group of chill-inducing tales lays a wealth of detail about Chicago's historical immigrant communities, criminal underbelly, the 1893 World's Fair, and more. (Sneaky!) They also span horror subgenres that include campy '50s science fiction, gothic ("Lily," starring a lovelorn high school student in 1999, is a faithful homage to "The Monkey's Paw"), and wry Hitchcockian suspense; Fleming brings plenty of humor, too. The genre-flipping and varied narrative voices prevent any sense of monotony. A welcoming and well-written introduction to many styles of horror. Ages 11-14. Agent: Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
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Jun 09, 2012 Karen Yingling rated it 3 of 5 stars

Mike is hurrying down a country road trying to make curfew when a girl appears in the road, dripping wet, and asked to be taken home. When he drops her off at her house, she forgets her shoes in the car, but when he knocks on the door, an older lady answers. Every year on the same date, someone shows up with Carol Anne's shoes, because she died in a canoeing accident. The woman tells Mike to take the shoes to the cemetery, and when he does, he sees 55 pairs of weathered saddle shoes about, and i...more

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Jun 06, 2012 Jenna Anderson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: netgalley

A Unique Collection of Stories

On The Day I Died is a unique and extremely creative collection of death stories. The author does a fantastic job of giving the reader eight distinct tales. I enjoyed the different settings, voices, and delivery of each story.

You may be thinking, “I don’t read short story collections.” Well, you need to pick up this one. The group is joined in a fun way and I zoomed through the entire book quickly. I wanted to find out what they all had to say and also discover wh...more

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Mar 17, 2012 Danica rated it 4 of 5 stars

~Review of ARC from Netgalley~

"On the Day I Died" is a wonderful collection of urban legends that teens will be drawn to. The book begins with the story of a teenager, Mike, who is running late getting home and is stopped by a young girl who needs a ride home. He delivers her safely, but when she leaves something behind in his car and he tries to return it to her, he learns that she is a ghost. Mike then ends up in a cemetary where he visits with several ghosts who tell the story of how they die...more

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May 29, 2012 Marthita rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: supernatural, ghosts, arc, netgalley

- 4 Stars -

I'm not a big fan of anthologies, because sometimes a short story leaves me so eager to know more that I became frustrate and angry for the simple reason that there isn't any kind of follow up novel or novella, and then, BEWARE! The horrible monster (aka. my imagination) takes control over my body and makes me write a lot of different POV until a fall asleep, and then the next day I look like a zombie; but there was something about this book that drag me in, maybe it was its cover, w...more - 4 Stars -

I'm not a big fan of anthologies, because sometimes a short story leaves me so eager to know more that I became frustrate and angry for the simple reason that there isn't any kind of follow up novel or novella, and then, BEWARE! The horrible monster (aka. my imagination) takes control over my body and makes me write a lot of different POV until a fall asleep, and then the next day I look like a zombie; but there was something about this book that drag me in, maybe it was its cover, with all those brilliant colors and that freaky design of the graveyard or maybe it was that I'm such a big fan of ghost stories, that I just couldn't resist to give this book a chance, and I'm so happy I did, because it's awesome.

The story begins with a boy, Mike, that is running late to get home after a big party, but when he's neering the bridge that would take him home, he sees a strange looking girl in the middle of the road that asks him for a ride home; knowing that he's already in trouble, he decides to give her a lift, and when they get there, she dissapires into the night, leaving her shoes in Mike's car; he, now interest in this girl, decides to take the shows to her house, just to learn the chilling true about that girl: she has been dead for almost fifty years... With his heart skipping a beat, Mike ventures in White Cementery, with the mission of learn the truth behind his supernatural encounter, and there, in a cold October night, Mike will meet and listen to the stories of the dead, all of them teenagers between the ages of fifteen and eighteen, that died in mysterious and supernatural ways.

The ten stories (if we include Mike's) are really interesting, but just a few made me look over my shoulder and feel that the chills were running down my spine... My top three were the stories of Scott, Lily and Rich, and I'll tell you why: Scott's story is set in a mental hospital, and is just that there's something about those places that give me the creeps and after watching the movie "Grave Encounters" I promised I would never, ever, enter that kind of places, never! Lily's story has the old horror short story "The Monkey's Paw" as background, and just love, and for that I mean that I freaking love that story; it gave me nightmares for a month when I was ten, and even when I couldn't slept, I printed it and I still have it somewhere in my room (I'm such a loony, I know, but don't mind me, I'm usually this weird). And then, is Rich's story and I like it for one simple reason, it reminded of "Christine" by Stephen King, and yes, I'm a huge fan of Mr. King's work, so I was kind of thrill with this.

All the stories were kind of sad, but since they were death stories I wasn't looking for a happy ending, but I was glad that all of the ghosts found their resolution by telling them to Mike... A creppy, sometimes chilling book, with a supernatural twist, that will be loved by teens and adults alike. Highly recommended!(less)

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May 12, 2013 Eden rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 50-state-challenge, borrowed-from-the-library, fiction-horror-and-paranormal

One night, after midnight, Mike is out driving and he's going too fast. Suddenly, there is a girl in the road. He puts on his brakes just in time and soon finds out she needs a ride home.

He takes there, but she quickly disappears and leaves her tennis shoes behind. He takes them up to her house and finds out she's not there. In fact, she has been dead for over 50 years and every year on the anniversary of her death, she appears to get a ride from someone and leaves her shoes.

The girl's mother di...more

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Sep 15, 2012 Heidi rated it 4 of 5 stars

“Four Stars: A creepy set of ghost stories perfect for tweens and teens!

Mike scrunches down the gas pedal, his phone ringing in the seat next to him. It is late, and he knows his mother is on the other end of that call, ready to unleash a torrent of frustration at his inability to observe his curfew. His car zooms down the darkened road, as he rushes to get home and avoid her wrath. A figure unexpectedly looms out of the blackness right in the middle of the road. Mike swerves and just barely mis...more

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Mar 05, 2012 Heven added it

Shelves: 2012-arc-new-releases

On the Day I Died by Candace Fleming is a compilation of short stories tied together by Mike, a junior in high school. While speeding down a country road, he finds a young lady walking on the side of the road. After stopping to pick the girl up he drives her back home where she leaves the car to return to her house. Mike, finding the girl left her new shoes in his car, takes them up to her house, he knocks on the door and speaks to the girls mom, who informs Mike the girl died over fifty years a...more

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Oct 18, 2012 Gin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

Candace Fleming is a favorite of mine and I grew up in Chicagoland, so maybe I'm biased but I loved this book. Perfect for middle/high school fans of Mary Downing Hahn, Scary Stories to Tell... by Alvin Schwartz, and Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. Nine teenagers from various historic time periods tell gruesome and creepy tales of their untimely deaths, all tied to places in and around Chicago - I grew up hearing some of these stories and visiting some of the settings, like the ghost girl who...more

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Feb 19, 2012 Jen V rated it 5 of 5 stars

Honestly, Candace Fleming can do now wrong when it comes to writing amazing books! I recently read The One and Only Barnum and had Amelia Lost on my list of books to read, too, when I requested this from NetGalley. I assumed it would be non-fiction but when I started reading, I realized it's a book of ghost stories! I totally wasn't expecting this but the idea behind the telling of the stories was great and all the stories were captivating.

I love that they are all set in or around Chicago. I dr...more

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Feb 22, 2013 Brenda rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Spooky story with ghosts, death stories

Shelves: fiction

So I picked this one up from the library purely based on the title, then the cover and lastly skimming the insert. Then I started to read the authors notes. By then I figured I should just check it out already, I mean I haven't read to many historical fiction so this seemed up my alley. I wasn't disappointed, but I do like scary stories with ghosts and graveyards. The story begins with Mike driving in his car at an extremely rapid rate trying to get home before his mom gets mad at him for missi...more So I picked this one up from the library purely based on the title, then the cover and lastly skimming the insert. Then I started to read the authors notes. By then I figured I should just check it out already, I mean I haven't read to many historical fiction so this seemed up my alley. I wasn't disappointed, but I do like scary stories with ghosts and graveyards. The story begins with Mike driving in his car at an extremely rapid rate trying to get home before his mom gets mad at him for missing curfew for the umpteenth time. When a girl appears out of nowhere and Mike thinks he should offer her a ride home. After he drops her off, Mike notices she left behind a pair of shoes and decides to take them back to her house. When he gets there, the girl is gone and instead there is a women who answers the door and tells him that the girls name is Carol Anne and that she died in a boating accident. She also tells him that Carol Anne is buried at a graveyard not far away and suggests that he return her shoes to her there. Mike is of course hesitant, I mean who wants to visit a cemetery at night and when your late for curfew? Against his better judgement, he decides to do just that. Once there, Mike meets ghosts of teenagers who want to tell them their stories, that is their death stories. Each of the next nine stories covers a different time period set in Chicago. From the authors note, we see that these stories are inspired by myths or legends or even events that occurred in Chicago during these historical time periods. I liked how the author included both male and female characters and found that the stories were in keeping with the historical time that they were set in. I also found the plot concerning the children's demise interesting and creative, although some stories were more engaging then others. I'm thinking if you like spooky stories that touch on the subject of death but aren't to creepy, then this is the book for you. In the end the message for Mike is to take it easy, smell the roses cause you almost died on that road last night. (less)

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Jan 25, 2013 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, fiction, horror, listened-to, young-adult-fiction

Grades 5 or 6 and up-- Mike is driving home late one night in the suburbs of Chicago when he sees a figure in the road and narrowly avoids hitting her. He gives her a ride home, but when he notices that she left her saddle shoes in the car, he goes up to her door, where her mother tells him that the girl he just gave a ride to has been dead for over 50 years. Each year on this date, she appears to someone as she walks along the road. Mike takes her shoes to the small local graveyard and when he...more

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Jul 21, 2012 Petra rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: children, ghost-stories, gothic, paranormal, young-adult, horror

http://hazelthewitch.blogspot.cz/2012...

Creepy! I enjoyed this book a lot! There was only one story that I didn't like that much, but it was mostly because of its theme, not because of how it was written. The author is very skilled at creating dark, gothic atmosphere and interesting characters in a short time. And that's quite handy when you write a short-story collection.

At the end of the book the author talks about her inspiration and background for each story. She mentions The Alfred Hitchcoc...more

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Jun 28, 2012 Donna rated it 3 of 5 stars

Who doesn't love a good ghost story?
This book is literal 'ghost' stories. The ghosts are the ones telling their stories to real live Mike Kowlaski. Yes, it happens late at night at an old run down cemetary.

All the stories are skillfully bound together. Mike is the individual chosen to hear and repeat the stories of these sad ghosts, thereby allowing them to 'move on'. All the ghosts are teenagers from various periods in Chicago's history. Yes, one even lived in the 20's during the reign of Scarf...more

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Nov 24, 2012 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars

A great book for spooky urban legend fans living in Chicago (cause most of the horror happens in and around that city). Candace Fleming introduces this collection of 9 death day stories with her version of the classic "ghostly hitchhiker", wherein the ghost leaves a pair of new saddle shoes in the car of the kind teen who picks her up. The twist comes when he is sent to the graveyard with the shoes and discovers that he hasn't been the first: there are 56 pairs of saddle shoes in various states...more

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Jun 21, 2012 Amy Fournier rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc

*This is actually 3.5 stars, but I rounded down. It was on the lower side of 3.5 lol.

This was a great collection of stories of how each of these characters died. I liked how it was set up though. It wasn't like a typical anthology would be with just having the short stories in it. The short stories are being told to Mike who stumbles into this cemetery due to an event that happens. Each ghost is telling the story of the day that they died. After each story we are brought back to the present whe...more *This is actually 3.5 stars, but I rounded down. It was on the lower side of 3.5 lol.

This was a great collection of stories of how each of these characters died. I liked how it was set up though. It wasn't like a typical anthology would be with just having the short stories in it. The short stories are being told to Mike who stumbles into this cemetery due to an event that happens. Each ghost is telling the story of the day that they died. After each story we are brought back to the present where Mike and some of the ghosts say a few things about the story they just heard before the next ghost tells their story. All of these ghosts died when they were teenagers, all around Mikes age. They all need to tell their stories. I am not going to go into each one, I will just give you an idea of what each story is about.

The book starts off with Mike, who is the narrator. He is on his way home, but something unexpected happens which brings him to the graveyard. It is there that the stories begin. We first get to hear Gina's story, she was fifteen when she died. This was a story about a psycho kid really. The next story is about Johnnie, who insists that he got revenge and revenge got him. He was sixteen when he died. He lived during The Depression. He was a trouble maker, and in the end he feels like he got what he deserved. We move onto Scott after that who was seventeen when he died. His is a creepy ghost story from an insane asylum. Then David tells his story. He was fifteen when he died. This was a pretty crazy story to be quite honest. Evelyn, who was sixteen when she died is up next. Her story is about her and her twin sister who she absolutely hated. Lily's story is one about love and loss. Also evil magic. She was seventeen when she died. Rich was sixteen when he died. His is a story of evil possession. Edgars story is a bit odd, but creepy. He died when he was seventeen. And then there was Tracy who died when she was fifteen. This girl had a pretty rough life and it gets much more rough and scary weird on the day she dies.

So I know that all of that didn't really tell you much. What is really cool is that each of the stories have some actual history behind them from the time period that it is from. At the end of the book the author so nicely puts each person and where their story came from. I really love how she details each story. It's interesting to get to know some of the real history of the events and the places. It seems like she really looked into the time periods to get the settings, fashions, and decorations correct. You can really imagine these characters in the specific time they are supposed to be from.

This was a fast and entertaining read. The stories had magic, love, revenge, evil, and ghosts. They were all such different and creative stories about how these teenagers lives ended. In the end they need someone to listen to them tell it. Evey one of them needs their death tale heard. This was very well written and you really feel like you are listening to each of these people tell you how they died. (There will be an audiobook version of it which I would love to listen to.) There is plenty of creepiness and action in this book, and it doesn't read like an anthology. The stories are within a story and it works really well. It's almost like a bunch of teenagers hanging out with each other telling ghost stories. If you like ghost stories this is a fun book. It's not scary, but some of it is a bit on the creepy and weird side. It was just a mindless read, which you really need sometimes.(less)

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About Candace Fleming

I have always been a storyteller. Even before I could write my name, I could tell a good tale. And I told them all the time. As a preschooler, I told my neighbors all about my three-legged cat named Spot. In kindergarten, I told my classmates about the ghost that lived in my attic. And in first grade I told my teacher, Miss Harbart, all about my family's trip to Paris, France.

I told such a good st...more I have always been a storyteller. Even before I could write my name, I could tell a good tale. And I told them all the time. As a preschooler, I told my neighbors all about my three-legged cat named Spot. In kindergarten, I told my classmates about the ghost that lived in my attic. And in first grade I told my teacher, Miss Harbart, all about my family's trip to Paris, France.

I told such a good story that people always thought I was telling the truth. But I wasn't. I didn't have a three-legged cat or a ghost in my attic, and I'd certainly never been to Paris, France. I simply enjoyed telling a good story... and seeing my listener's reaction.

Sure, some people might have said I was a seven-year old fibber. But not my parents. Instead of calling my stories "fibs" they called them "imaginative." They encouraged me to put my stories down on paper. I did. And amazingly, once I began writing, I couldn't stop. I filled notebook after notebook with stories, poems, plays. I still have many of those notebooks. They're precious to me because they are a record of my writing life from elementary school on.

In second grade, I discovered a passion for language. I can still remember the day my teacher, Miss Johnson, held up a horn-shaped basket filled with papier-mache pumpkins and asked the class to repeat the word "cornucopia." I said it again and again, tasted the word on my lips. I tested it on my ears. That afternoon, I skipped all the way home from school chanting, "Cornucopia! Cornucopia!" From then on, I really began listening to words—to the sounds they made, and the way they were used, and how they made me feel. I longed to put them together in ways that were beautiful, and yet told a story.

As I grew, I continued to write stories. But I never really thought of becoming an author. Instead, I went to college where I discovered yet another passion—history. I didn't realize it then, but studying history is really just an extension of my love of stories. After all, some of the best stories are true ones — tales of heroism and villainy made more incredible by the fact they really happened.

After graduation, I got married and had children. I read to them a lot, and that's when I discovered the joy and music of children's books. I simply couldn't get enough of them. With my two sons in tow, I made endless trips to the library. I read stacks of books. I found myself begging, "Just one more, pleeeeease!" while my boys begged for lights-out and sleep. Then it struck me. Why not write children's books? It seemed the perfect way to combine all the things I loved: stories, musical language, history, and reading. I couldn't wait to get started.

But writing children's books is harder than it looks. For three years I wrote story after story. I sent them to publisher after publisher. And I received rejection letter after rejection letter. Still, I didn't give up. I kept trying until finally one of my stories was pulled from the slush pile and turned into a book. My career as a children's author had begun.(less)

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“We may just be specters in this world, but our stories, if they are remembered and retold, become real and solid and alive... Once you hear a story, it becomes part of you. It can't die.” — 5 people liked it

“Once you hear a story, it becomes part of you. It can't die.” — 2 people liked it

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On the Day I Died: Stories from the Grave

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