Dunc and the Flaming Ghost

Culpepper Adventures #7

by Gary Paulsen

Dunc investigates stories of a haunting in the Rambridge house and meets a seemingly harmless man who claims to be impersonating the ghost of Blackbeard the Pirate, but why does he have flames shooting from his mouth? Original.

Genres: Mystery

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Gary James Paulsen was an American writer of children's and young adult fiction, best known for coming-of-age stories about the wilderness. He was the author of more than 200 books and wrote more than 200 magazine articles and short stories, and several plays, all primarily for teenagers. He won the Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 1997 for his lifetime contribution in writing for teens.

Reviews

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seven books into the Culpepper Adventures series, I didn't expect the quality to take an upturn, but Dunc and the Flaming Ghost is just such an upturn, if a modest one. Dunc Culpepper and Amos Binder face a problem when Amos's dog, Scruff, runs into the old Rambridge house and refuses to come out. Legend has it that the ghost of Blackbeard the pirate guards the premises and kills intruders, but Dunc won't let Amos leave without Scruff. Inside the house, the boys run into a furious phantom figure who bears more than a passing resemblance to the notorious Blackbeard, and they barely escape with Scruff at their heels. Amos never wants to set foot in that house again.

But Dunc's curiosity won't let him forget what they saw. He believes a human is behind the ghost sighting, and he drags Amos back to surveil the Rambridge house from a distance. Two men show up in a van and carry a large box into the house, where they stay for hours. Amos wants to leave the men to their business, but Dunc senses a mystery to solve. He and Amos sneak into the house, and aren't going to leave until they have answers.

Blackbeard's "ghost" comes at them from upstairs, but the show isn't as convincing this time. The man stumbles and needs help getting back to his feet, at which point he confesses he is not a ghost. Eddie, a former schoolteacher who is now homeless, secretly resides in the Rambridge house and uses the Blackbeard ruse to keep away other squatters. Recently, however, he's heard sounds from the basement, and is afraid criminals are using it as their headquarters. Dunc, Amos, and Eddie head down to investigate, where they find evidence of a scheme the police would like to know about. Can the three of them stymie the bad guys dealing contraband out of the Rambridge house...or is the place more haunted than Dunc wants to believe?

Dunc and the Flaming Ghost is overly cartoonish in spots, but the story is more clever than previous Culpepper Adventures. I didn't see the twist coming. This is nowhere near Gary Paulsen's best writing, but Dunc and the Flaming Ghost is my favorite book of the series so far, and I'd round my one-and-a-half-star rating to two. If earlier Culpepper Adventures don't appeal to you, read this one. I bet you'll find it an improvement.

[William Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun adventure. Young adult book. The series with Dunc aren't Paulsen's greatest, but they're a fun read and better than an hour of t.v.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book because you didn't know what was going to happen next. This book is about when Dunc And Amos go to a house to find Dunc's sisters cat that ran away. When they go into the house they find someone in the house they thought was the Blackbeards ghost and they got scared and left. When they go back again they realize he is just a person who can not aford to get his own house. As they are talking to them they hear people in the downstairs as the book gos on the capture the guys and everything turns out okay.

[Deborah Harris]

AR Quiz No. 6716 EN Fiction
Accelerated Reader Quiz Information IL: MG - BL: 3.4 - AR Pts: 1.0
Accelerated Reader Quiz Type Information AR Quiz Types: RP, VP

[Hildegart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting idea on how to get Amos to do something.

[Cjwellmaker14 · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was scary coll