Glister: The Haunted Teapot by Andi Watson

Walker Books, 2009. ISBN 9781406320480. Book 1.
(Ages 9 and up) 'Strange things happen around Glister Butterworth,' with this tale focused on the arrival of a parcel. As their current teapot pours so badly, Mr Butterworth is eager to accept the unsolicited and unexplained appearance of a new one. When Glister makes the tea, it becomes evident the pot is haunted by the ghost of a writer who has left behind an 'unfinished masterpiece' and wishes to use Glister as his 'amanuensis'. With a certain amount of vocabulary which is above that of the average young reader and would probably be overlooked by many children, I imagine the novel would, nonetheless, still hold their attention as the mystery is solved and the book concludes.
Frustratingly, the covers of these books have no clear labels indicating their order, only an image promoting the other story so as a result, I foolishly read these two books out of sequence. Hence, the mystery explained in The Haunted Teapot seemed to lose its impact. The books could stand alone, yet I would recommend reading The Haunted Teapot first as it explains the appearance of a different 'Ghost Writer' in the Haunted House.
Unaccustomed as I am to the cartoon' style genre, this series is made more interesting thanks to the colour of the internal images and print being matched to the predominant colour of the cover and the detail provided by the illustrations. I found this to be a reasonably engaging tale.
Jo Schenkel