Spooksville #5 The Cold People and #6 The Witch's Revenge

In Spooksville #5, The Cold People, the four children come across blocks of ice out in the woods in the middle of summer.  Watch decides to thaw one out.  What could possibly  go wrong?  A frozen zombie man comes to life and changes Watch into one of them.  Soon, all of the blocks have been thawed, and Spooksville is overrun by the cold people, who are determined to make everyone just like them.

Spooky!  This story is very similar to a zombie story, even though the cold people are technically not zombies.

On page 97, "Ten minutes after saying goodbye to Adam and Sally, Cindy and Bum began to feel guilty about not doing more to help their friends.  At least Cindy felt guilty. She didn't know if guilt was an emotion Bum allowed himself to experience."

This book is excellent.

In Spooksville #6, The Witch's Revenge, Adam, Watch, Sally, and Cindy decide to visit Ann Templeton in her castle.  Once inside, the four children find necklaces labeled IMMORTALITY, STRENGTH, MATURITY, and BEAUTY.  Each child chooses one necklace and puts it on.  The children find that the necklaces do give them exactly what was promised, but at the same time, they learn that they are now trapped inside the castle. Ann Templeton tells them that this is a test and that they must find their way out on their own.

I greatly enjoyed this story.