On the Day I Died: Stories from the Grave (Book Review)

Author: Candace Fleming
Year: 2012
Genre: Ghost stories/Supernatural/Short stories
Reading Level: Young Adult

Plot Summary: Mike Kowalski was just trying to get home before curfew.  Instead he finds himself in an overgrown, backwoods cemetery surrounded by teen ghosts desperate to tell him their stories.  The teenagers are from different decades and died in vastly different ways, but their stories end in the same place.  

Red Flags: Death (obviously), ghosts (obviously), some spookiness, some violence and mild gore.

My Rating: B+
I liked this book.  I didn't love it, I don't know why.  It has a lot of good points--a wide variety of characters, solid writing, creative stories and a nice amount of spookiness.  I haven't read short stories for a long time, and it's always impressive how a good author can convey so much in relatively few pages.  Candace Fleming is adept at this, and the stories were quick but never rushed or weak.  

I don't know why I didn't get into it more.  My only two real complaints are that the transitions between stories were kind of awkward and the cap on everything was a little heavy handed.  I just don't feel too strongly about it, but I still think it was a good read and I'd readily recommend it to anyone looking for a spooky read that won't make them hide under the bed.