Is Anybody There?

by Eve Bunting

After discovering the disappearance of several household items, Marcus, a thirteen-year-old latchkey child, suspects that a stranger may be prowling around inside his house while he's at school and his mother is at work.

Genres: Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Mystery, Young Adult, Christmas, Fiction, Childrens

170 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Also known as Evelyn Bolton and A.E. Bunting.

Anne Evelyn Bunting, better known as Eve Bunting, is an author with more than 250 books. Her books are diverse in age groups, from picture books to chapter books, and topic, ranging from Thanksgiving to riots in Los Angeles. Eve Bunting has won several awards for her works.

Bunting went to school in Ireland and grew up with storytelling. In Ireland, “There used to be Shanachies… the shanachie was a storyteller who went from house to house telling his tales of ghosts and fairies, of old Irish heroes and battles still to be won. Maybe I’m a bit of a Shanchie myself, telling stories to anyone who will listen.” This storytelling began as an inspiration for Bunting and continues with her work.

In 1958, Bunting moved to the United States with her husband and three children. A few years later, Bunting enrolled in a community college writing course. She felt the desire to write about her heritage. Bunting has taught writing classes at UCLA. She now lives in Pasadena, California.

Reviews

[Lilly #2]

This book was alright. I don’t regret reading it, but there are many better books out there. It’s not going to stick with me like others I have read. It gives me strong middle grade 90s book vibes (which makes sense seeing it was written in 1988).

The storyline was nice, and I liked how everything tied in, but I feel like there was to much explaining going on. We don’t need to know every little step he takes in doing something.

[Jessica]

In my elementary school years, this was my absolute favorite book to read. If I could have stole it from the school library I would have. Being a long time mystery buff, I always loved the build-up of suspense as Marcus is trying to figure out what is going on at his house. The book also shows how a boy must become the man of the house when tragedy strikes. A great book for any kid to read!

[Katy]

Not overly exciting and thrilling, but it was a fast read that kept me entertained and wanting to figure out what was happening.

[Jaida]

Pretty good I was not expecting Blake to be the one in the attic

[Lj bunker]

This book starts out with Marcus Mullen going through his daily routines as a normal kid would do. He dose happen to be in a sorta unique situation his father has passed away so he cooks and doses other chores to help his mother. One day he comes home to find his key is not in its hiding spot. After this point in the book he has this creepy feeling about his house. Later on in the book he learns his mom is seeing a new man (Nick) at first and up until the end of the book he is unsure how he feels about Nick but at the end he dose grow fond of Nick.
This book was not the best in my opinion there was not really one direct plot to this book (it had many tangents). I do think it could be used in a upper elementary school class room.

[Duane]

This is a great book for the beginner chapter readers who want an exciting story to keep them intrigued. Marcus is a latch-key kid and he never minded before until he starts to notice things missing and he wants to blame the new tenant upstairs who also happens to like his mom. Filled with great details and exciting story lines, you'll enjoy this story from beginning and end.

[Janet Blowers]

My youngest daughter had to read this one for her 4th grade class......so far it seems a little scary but I am sure it will turn out ok.

Update; It did turn out ok, but still thought it was not a good choice of reading. It is not ok to to tell your parents that your key went missing and then came back....really weird.

[Elizabeth Gibbs]

Marcus, a 13-year-old boy, thinks someone is coming into their house and stealing things. This book was fascinating to me, and I'll keep it to read again later. I don't know how realistic the relationship with his mother is since he's a teenager but it was heart-warming and had lots of feel-good scenes.

[Demethius Jackson]

I first read this in 5th grade during the early 90's and thoroughly enjoyed it this Christmas time mystery. Reading this book became one of my annual holiday traditions leading up to jr. high school, and I'd still recommend it to this day.

[Krystal]

this is a pretty good book. you expect something to happen but then it doesn't.

[Rhayla]

It was amazing I couldn't stop reading it!!
It was so good I thought it was one of the very best book's I've ever read!

[Jessica]

Read it in 6th grade.

[Mary Smith]

Read to sixth grade class