Muth, John J. Zen Ghosts. New York : Scholastic Press, 2010.
Plot: The text offers the retelling of a traditional, but eerie, Buddhist tale. Stillwater, a panda neighbor to three children, offers to tell the kids a ghost story after they go trick-or-treating. The tale, told by a Stillwater look-alike, begins with two children falling in love. When the girl's parents choose a different man to marry her, the childhood friends elope. Guilt over leaving their families eventually drives the two to return to her parents, where they discover, much like the three children, things are not as they seem...
Genre: Folktales
Reading Level: Grades 1 and up
Similar Titles: Zen Shorts, Old Turtle and the Broken Truth
Personal Thoughts: Like Muth's previous works, the text combines beautiful watercolor illustrations with ancient tales to bring readers to a deeper understanding of the world. This particular tale focuses on duality. The daughter splits between her lover and her parents, revealing a different character within one person. Despite the strangeness of the tale, it does encourage readers to consider the truth of perception versus reality. The text offers a view differing wildly from many ghost stories, but still manages to maintain a sufficiently eerie tone.
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