A college guy's view
Although this book was not the most current at my school library, I found it during first grade, and had to get special permission to check it out, because it was a chapter book. My mom and I read a half chapter a night on school nights and a full chapter on Saturdays and Sundays to get it finished before the due date two weeks later. Each October thereafter, I checked this book out, until it came up missing/stolen when I was in sixth grade. I went from reading the story with my mom to reading it all on my own. The intertwining of history, a ghost story and the lives of three relatively ordinary kids kept bringing me back for more. Now in college, my fond memories of this book started my search to read it again.