The Peculiar Haunting of Thelma Bee

By: Erin Petti

Narrated by: Bonniejean Boettcher

Length: 4 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Ghost-story lover and debut author Erin Petti has written a quirky story for fans of The Goonies, Goosebumps, and Coraline.

Eleven-year-old budding scientist Thelma Bee has adventure in her blood. But she gets more than she bargained for when a ghost kidnaps her father. Now her only clues are a strange jewelry box and the word "Return," whispered to her by the ghost. It's up to Thelma to get her dad back, and it might be more dangerous than she thought - there's someone wielding dark magic, and they're coming after her next.

©2016 Mighty Media Junior Readers (P)2021 Erin Petti

Great story and amazing narration!

The characters are delightful. The story is intriguing without being too scary. Fun for children and adults.

I hope there are sequels!

My kids (aged pre-K through middle school) and I loved this book! It is so fun and the narration makes it all the more enjoyable. Seeing as I am NOT a ghost story person in the slightest, I was initially concerned the tale might be too scary for the kids - or rather, for me - but Petti created a well paced, captivating and humorous plot that engaged my littlest kids attention spans through my biggest kids interest to keep them asking “what happens next?!” So even with my scaredy-cat tendencies I found it really hard to not be sucked into the peculiar world of Thelma Bee (see what I did there?).

Long and short of it, this one is sort of a blend of styles featured in The Underland Chronicles, Harry Potter and something else with a super nerdy girl who has abnormal opinions of tater tots. An absolutely awesome pick for October!!

Great for family listening

I listened to "The Peculiar Haunting of Thelma Bee" through a series of car rides with my 9 year old daughter. We both enjoyed the story and the performance. My daughter was so engaged that she was immediately asking about a sequel and asked to start "Thelma Bee in Toil and Treble" as soon as possible.

The story contains recognizable elements of a supernatural story but I would not call it a typical haunted house or ghost story and there are some twists that I do not wish to give away. My daughter found the story to be spooky at times but not too scary and she did not want it turned off even when getting nervous as we were driving at night. The main character takes a scientific approach which I appreciated and I think it helped keep the story grounded.

The performance by Bonniejean Boettcher was engaging with distinct voices for each character. My daughter and I have listened to several audio books in the car together but she was particularly complimentary of the voices Bonniejean used for the characters and how she was able to balance the spookier moments without crossing into too scary. We were happy to learn that "Thelma Bee in Toil and Treble" is also performed by Bonniejean.

Overall, I recommend this audiobook for families looking for a fun story that everyone, at least ages 8+, can enjoy in the car.