The Haunting of Aveline Jones by Phil Hickes is a book that’s bursting with atmosphere…
It has great characters, including a heroine you genuinely care about, and a story that keeps you on the edge of your seat.
The story also illustrates the way in which we can build a connection, and care about, people from the past, through reading their words and learning about their lives.
This is a good novel to use with older Key Stage 2 pupils. It provides an introduction to several literary forms: first person diary entries, factual reporting and descriptive writing.
It also contains several atmospheric illustrations that can be used to build art projects. This is definitely a book with lots of classroom mileage.
What is The Haunting of Aveline Jones about?
“I live in a place where it’s always dark and the wind never stops blowing.”
P.P.
Where is this place, and who is P.P? This is a story that drips with mysterious chill from the very first page.
Aveline Jones is not looking forward to her stay with cold Aunt Lilian, but what first threatened to be a boring half-term spent at her aunt’s remote coastal home, during a freezing October, suddenly turns into something much more promising following the discovery of a spooky old book.
The stories in it are spine-tingling, and when Aveline discovers the book once belonged to a girl called Primrose Penberthy, who mysteriously vanished, never to be seen again, she decides to investigate Primrose’s disappearance.
But is someone – or something – looking for Aveline?
Karen Hart is an independent drama teacher, author and freelance writer.
