Book Recommendation: ‘The Most Haunted House in America’ by Jarrett Dapier, illustrated by Lee Gatlin

Recommended by LIZ WELTER, Owner and Bookseller at Novel Bay Booksellers

This is the spooky season, and there’s nothing better than a comfy couch, dim lighting, a fireplace blazing and a good story. 

The Most Haunted House in America is a spooky story that the kiddos, adults and everyone in between will enjoy. The word pattern creates an easy rhythm that makes it a fun story to read, while the illustrations are humorous and engaging. 

The backstory that Dapier writes explains the haunted history of the White House and includes some humorous anecdotes, including guests reporting hearing 1920s-era music coming from the 28 White House fireplaces, a couple of presidential dogs refusing to enter the Lincoln bedroom due to the president’s ghostly presence, the ghost of First Lady Abigail Adams noticed hanging laundry in the East Room, and President Andrew Jackson muttering “swear words, which he liked to do when he was angry.” The author also includes a list of online references and more books related to the haunted White House. 

Dapier even writes about his own experience of playing drums at a White House Halloween party where so much was happening at one time with people, costumes and decorations that maybe “the real Abraham Lincoln and other ghosts from the past were there, too, watching, dancing and whispering into our ears as we passed by. Only the ghosts truly know.”