McBroom's Ghost

Adventures of McBroom

by Sid Fleischman, Amy Wummer (Illustrator)

Josh McBroom can tell you a thing or three about ghosts, including how an honest-to-goodness haunt came lurking about his one-acre farm on one uncommonly cold winter night. Simultaneous.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Chapter Books, Humor

62 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

As a children's book author Sid Fleischman felt a special obligation to his readers. "The books we enjoy as children stay with us forever -- they have a special impact. Paragraph after paragraph and page after page, the author must deliver his or her best work." With almost 60 books to his credit, some of which have been made into motion pictures, Sid Fleischman can be assured that his work will make a special impact.

Sid Fleischman wrote his books at a huge table cluttered with projects: story ideas, library books, research, letters, notes, pens, pencils, and a computer. He lived in an old-fashioned, two-story house full of creaks and character, and enjoys hearing the sound of the nearby Pacific Ocean.

Fleischman passed away after a battle with cancer on March 17, 2010, the day after his ninetieth birthday.

He was the father of Newbery Medal winning writer and poet Paul Fleischman, author of Joyful Noise; they are the only father and son to receive Newbery awards.

Reviews

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

First sentence: Ghosts? Mercy, yes--I can tell you a thing or three about ghosts. As sure as my name's Josh McBroom a haunt came lurking about or wonderful one-acre farm. I don't know when that confounded dry-bones first moved in with us, but I suspicion it was last winter. An uncommon cold winter it was, too, though not so cold that an honest man would tell fibs about it. Still, you had to be careful when you lit a match. The flame would freeze and you had to wait for a thaw to blow it out.

Premise/plot: Does McBroom's one-acre farm have a ghost? Perhaps. This read-aloud gem takes place over two winters, I believe. In this one, McBroom has to solve the mystery of is-there-a-ghost-haunting-the-farm? AND solve a problem he is having with his neighbor and his hogs.

My thoughts: I would recommend this one to anyone who has read and loved McBroom's Wonderful One-Acre Farm, Three Tall Tales (1966). I love, love, love McBroom as a narrator. And the adventures he has with his family on the farm are quite unbelievable.

Quotes:

I don't intend to stray from the facts, but I distinctly remember one day Polly dropped her comb on the floor and when she picked it up the teeth were chattering.

The temperature kept dropping and I must admit some downright unusual things began to happen. For one thing smoke took to freezing in the chimney. I had to blast it out with a shotgun three times a day. And we couldn't sit down to a bowl of Mama's hot soup before a crust of ice formed on top. The girls used to set the table with a knife, a fork, a spoon--and an ice pick.

Then the big freeze set in. Red barns for miles around turned blue with the cold.

[MisterFweem · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, I have to do the yell:

Willjillhesterchesterpeterpollytimtommarylarry andlittleclarinda!

That's how farmer Josh McBroom shouts his eleven children into the house as they're playing on his amazingly rich one-acre farm, where the soil is so rich they can grow two crops of tomatoes and a crop of carrots on the first day of planting.

And now it's my goal as I pass these wonderful books (this is the first of a series by Sid Fleischman) on to my children that I perfect McBroom's yell so I can shout it at them when it's time to come in for the day.

When I spotted this book along with McBroom Tells a Big Lie at the DI this weekend, I had to buy them. I used to own copies of the books myself, and remember, as a youngster, being a little spooked by the idea of reading a story about a ghost. Then, of course, I remember reading the story and laughing out loud at the outrageous tale-spinner that is Josh McBroom.

Then there are Robert Frankenberg's illustration, in which he leaves a few of his characters a bit buck-toothed and, frankly, skeleton-like with all the teeth you see.

And there's Heck Jones, the neighbor, covetous of the McBrooms' wonderful farm, who stands on the hill eating shoofly pie (made of molasses and brown sugar, sure to attract the flying pests). I remember thinking the pie was called "shoo-flee" pie, and wondering why the author had picked such an odd name. Well, I'm not the brightest penny in the patch, you see.

Somehow, it was Josh McBroom in this drawing that always worried me. He looked to my young eyes as if he were ready to tumble down the hill under the brunt of Heck Jones' shoofly pie breath.

My kids, as they will, have mixed feelings on Josh McBroom. Lexie, our daughter, was scared off by the ghost thing. Isaac, our youngest, who likes things loud, really likes the book, especially when I belt out Josh McBroom's kid-calling holler. Liam is pretty indifferent to the book. He has to pretty much discover a book on his own for it to hold his interest. Fortunately, he does a lot of finding, since we have the nasty habit of leaving a lot of books lying around the house. Don't know how we'd handle that if we had a Kindle or all electronic books. You don't exactly leave a bit of hardware like that lying around the house, and if you do, I'm not sure what the appeal would be for kids. Ours oure very visual, and unless the Kindle or its ilk can flash a nice illustrated cover once and a while, I'm not certain the screen would hold any interest.

[Shiloah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so fun to read aloud to the family. Add the Southern twang and it really makes the story come to life. We laughed and laughed.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a review of the 1971 Weekly Reader Children's Book Club edition, which you can currently find at the Internet Archive. This was most likely the edition of the book my parents got me when I was a kid.

I have no idea why my parents thought that McBroom books were suitable books for me, since I was too young to know what a tall tale was. I'd been read Mary Poppins and Miss Piggle-Wiggle and didn't realize they were fiction. It took me a while to realize that even Clifford the Big Red Dog was fiction. So, imagine how confused I was trying to read the McBroom books.

And there's quite a bit of text, too. And a rooster is killed by cold on page 4. There was nothing that could get me crying faster than a dead animal. As a small kid, I got bored of the story and just looked at the pictures. I sold or gave away the book soon as I could. The first time I read the story in its entirety was just now.

It's not bad, for a tall tale, and a few whoppers in between the main tall tale. There is a remarkable mongrel named Zip, a pack of wolves, a catfish with a coat of fur, and a human family of 13.

Poor old rooster, though. I still get chills ... even though now I know it's fiction.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

McBroom is always a fun read.

[Ardyth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I know people love this, and I feel like maybe I liked it as a kid, too? But as a grown-up... I lowkey hate it.

Look, the tall tale itself is fine and fun enough. The problem, my friends, is the country, folksy narration style! I mean, *maybe* if you know somebody who speaks this way then it feels fun and cute? Maybe? If so, that's great. It's good to see oneself on the page. Enjoy!

But for all the rest of us, not so much. I question whether this is a fun tall tale retelling by Fleischman or is he intentionally mocking country folk? It's just wall to wall poor white trash stereotypes:

"I suspicioned" and suchlike. /eyeroll

Have you seen the illustrations in here??? Everybody's teeth are weird, and they have small, vacant, pupil-less eyes.

They're all broke.

One character's given name is "Heck."

The farm is so awesome it grows anything "quicker'n scat"??? So, faster than poop, I guess. That's... certainly fast.

Nope nope nope. Nope.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this book in the spare bedroom. Hadn't read it in years. My first though was...willjillhesterchesterpeterpollytimtommarylarry and little Clarinda. What a nice trip down memory lane of my childhood reading.

[Sheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

McBroom is not McBroom without the Frankenberg illos.

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not at all a fan of Frankenberg's illustrations. His have nothing of the charm of Kurt Werth's.

[Muzzlehatch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Judging from the reviews - or lack of them - the McBroom books by Sid Fleischman have more or less gone by the wayside and disappeared from kids' reading today. That's a shame; while I wouldn't necessarily call them "classics", they're fun tall tales that are neither moralizing nor pedagogical, just good fun reading for kids, and the adults who grew up on them, or have a fondness for the old-fashioned tale-spinning that they embody.

This is the 4th book, originally published in 1971, and it features a classic old-fashioned yarn: the winter "So cold that..." How cold was it? So cold that the comb's teeth chattered...so cold that the rooster's crow froze....so cold that the red barns turned blue. You get the idea. The story here is that there seems to be a ghost making the rounds on Josh McBroom's one-acre wonderful farm, and McBroom tries all kinds of things to get rid of it. His wife Melinda and 11 kids (WillJILLHesterCHESTERPeterPOLLYTimTOMMaryLARRYandlittleCLARINDA) aren't fans of staying on - but if McBroom leaves he'll be giving in to his no-good neighbor Heck Jones who stands on the hill above his house dressed all in white, looking like Colonel Sanders and eating shoofly pie. Jones' razorback hogs are also contributing to McBroom's misfortune and...well, you'll have to get it yourself to see how it turns out.

This brought back memories - I loved the tall tales of Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, etc as a kid, and had at least one other McBroom book in addition to this one; I suspect it was "McBroom Tells the Truth", in which we learn the origin and secret of the magical one-acre wonder-farm. I'll have to go rooting around in the attic for that one, too.

Charmingly illustrated (in pencil/pen & ink I think; some of the book is just blue tones, other pages are full color) by Robert Frankenberg - though I use the word "charm" advisedly, as McBroom and his family aren't the prettiest bunch of red-headed hillbillies you'll see. But I bet you'll love 'em anyway.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this faithfully as a child in the 80's. No idea how my family ended up obtaining it, but it was there. I looked at the pictures all the time as a child.
I bought it off Amazon (its from 1971, so woo hoo) for my students and promptly read it.
Ugh.
Not appropriate for my special needs class. It makes little sense. I mean, of course I "get" it, but its not my cup of tea. I remember reading it in the winter as a kid and this book making me colder, if you can believe that! I think it would be good for typical children or higher functioning children. I teach multiple disabilities and I don't think this would work for them. Too many words, not enough pictures, and the story would go right over their heads.
Very late 1960's, early 1970's style. Happy to have it in my collection, however.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The kids (age 6) really seem to like these McBroom stories. I find that I have to do a fair bit of explaining as there is a lot of folksy jargon for things in the story. A ghost is also called a haunt and an ol’ dry-bones. A comb that was so cold its teeth chattered took a fair bit of explanation. It was refreshing to have the author provide the explanation for shoo-fly pie. I will say that the explanation for the “ghost” was one I hadn’t seem coming, but it made for a fun, true-to-the-tall-tale ending.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book when I was a kid, and I STILL want to try shoofly pie. I used to laugh at the antics of McBroom's ghost, and the very tall tale vibe to this book... the ghost does everything from mimicking the dogs, to imitating the unique way McBroom calls his kids... "Will/Jill-Hester/Chester-Peter/Polly-Tim/Tom-Mary/Larry-AND-Little-Clarinda"... and then that dadblasted winter sets in, and it freezes so bad McBroom has to clear the frozen smoke from his chimney with a shotgun blast, and it just gets funnier from there.

[Jazzmin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of whimsy and colorful character in this one.... through the happenings and the narrator's speech. You definitely have to have a down-to-earth spirit and appreciation of olden days country folks and culture to truly appreciate this book, and I rather enjoyed it.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in 1971, this is a cute story about a farmer who has 11 children AND laryngitis AND a very cold winter AND a nasty neighbor with razorback hogs AND a rooster who froze AND a ghost!

A cute story.

[Cynthia Egbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a lot of fun reading this one. It was not one that I loved enough to buy a copy for my collection but I can see checking it out of the library again when my grandson is a bit older and having a silly read with him.

[Lady reading under the Willow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny. There isn't really a ghost.

[Kristin Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is silly, yet felt disrespectful to people who live in the country and don't have much money.

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would make a terrific, longer read aloud. Great fun. Pictures aren’t my favorite.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun tongue in cheek read aloud that’s not truly spooky! My 5 year old didn’t get the story line though but my older kids loved it!

[Eilidh]

Fun and ridiculous, in the best way.

[Siskiyou-Suzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

These McBroom books are certainly fun, and this book introduces a second silly element to the farm beyond the unbelievable, fast-growing soil. A "ghost." Sort of. It's just as fun as the others. Many of the jokes may be lost on the younger set because of contextual clues, but I bet they'd still enjoy a lot of 'em! Could be a fun read-aloud.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book to my ten year old son. I thought this was a pretty neat book, but my son was left feeling a bit confused. The author used a LOT of sayings not to be taken in a literal form. The main character would say and I’m not lying, so my son was a bit confused as to what the underlying messages were.

This is a story about a man and his wife and 11 children who live on a farm that can grow crops in just one day. Of course with amazing land like that, the neighbor of McBroom is always trying to get him to sell the land to him and his pig farm. One day the children hear things that they should not be hearing, like the crow of their old rooster that died, their father’s voice outside when he was inside with laryngitis, and other voices. McBroom tells his children it must be that the neighbor got a rooster, the wind sounded like his voice, and the wind and cold made the sounds that sounded like voices. Then one day McBroom hears the same sounds with his own ears. He goes to a ghost seer to ask how to get rid of the ghosts that haunt his home and land. She tells him to get a dog, but only a certain type of dog….that she just happens to have puppies for sale of. He buys a puppy and they don’t hear the sounds again….until the following season.
So, what are the noises/voices and how do they get rid of them? That you will have to read the book to find out.

I would say this was a 4 star out of 5 book. However, my son says 2 star out of 5 because of the things that he had to have explained all the time for him to understand.

[Luisa Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

The McBroom stories are sure to be winners with your kids since the tall tales are a hoot!

Ages: 5 - 10

Cleanliness: nothing to note. (It is not really a ghost).

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[Donna Crane]

My, oh my, it's been a cold winter this year. Why it's been so cold we've had to fire a gun up the chimney three times a day to blast through the smoke that froze. It was so cold all the red barns in the county turned blue and sunlight took to freezing on the ground. But the strangest thing happening on the McBroom farm is that a mimicking ghost has turned up. It can do dead-on imitations of everything from a crowing rooster to John Philip Sousa's marching band. The McBroom series comes from the tall tale tradition and in this installment, the family gets themselves a ghost-pointing mongrel named Zip who can plant a row of corn straight as you please, but just can't seem to find the ghost. Willjillhesterchesterpeterpollytimtommarylarry and littleclarinda all recommend this book

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was one of my favorite books from when I was a child. It is a strange and bizarre book with strange illustrations to match the story. Most of the characters are tall and emaciated with very distinct noses. Mr. McBroom is a great narrator who is known for telling tall tales. He tells a story of a ghost haunting their farm.

Looking back, it almost seems like it could be the basis for a short film by Tim Burton.

[Jennifer Heise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore McBroom, so I've read this to my son repeatedly since he was about 4-- before that it was too long for him to like. He giggles now (at the age of 6) about the tall tale, but I think he'll enjoy it more later.
Who can forget the frozen march, or McBroom's call for " “Will-Jill-Hester-Chester-Peter-Polly-Tim-Tom-Mary-Larry-and-Little-Clarinda” !

[Brandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this tall-tale chapter book for transitional readers, it's a cold, cold winter on McBroom's one-acre farm when a mimicking ghost starts to cause all sorts of trouble. A humorous, fun, quick start to the Adventures of McBroom series.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love McBroom and his many adventures. This is the first McBroom book I read. As a result, I've bought several more.

[Kate Spears · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was one of my favorite books from childhood. i have lost my copy but i'm getting it from the library so i can relive this memory!