Book cover: "Blackbeard's Ghost"

This novel is, very loosely, the inspiration for the 1968 Walt Disney movie of the same name. I never saw the movie as a kid (though surely it was on The Wonderful World of Disney at some point), but our family watched and enjoyed it in the summer of 2021 via Disney+.

• Title: Blackbeard's Ghost
• Author and illustrator: Ben Stahl (1910-1987), who is more notable for his work as an artist and illustrator but also wrote two novels: Blackbeard's Ghost and its sequel The Secret of Red Skull.
• Cover design: No one credited. The front and back covers feature stills from the Disney movie version with Peter Ustinov.
• Publisher: Scholastic Book Services, Starline edition (TK 1115)
• Year: Second printing, March 1968. The novel was originally published in 1965.
• Dedication: "For my wife, Ella"
• Pages: 144
• Format: Paperback
• Price: 60 cents
• First sentence: "Jonas Pepper clamped his lopsided tricorn hat firmly down upon his gray head."
• Random excerpt from middle #1: "Night and the arching branches of the trees had transformed Elm Street into a quiet, deserted green tunnel, lined with houses and gleaming windows that revealed people moving aimlessly about, watching TV, or reading newspapers."
• Random excerpt from middle #2: "Brandishing his cutlass, he strode out from between a Dairy Queen truck going north and a ratty station wagon going in the opposite direction."
• Rating on Goodreads: 3.27 stars (out of 5)
• Goodreads review excerpt #1: In 2024, C.G. Koens wrote: "I don't even know what to think of this book. I got it because I grew up watching the 1960s Disney movie by the same name, after I saw it was based off of this book by Ben Stahl. It's not the book's fault that it is NOTHING like the movie, but it tainted my enjoyment of the book for its own merit."
• Goodreads review excerpt #2: In 2021, Deborah wrote: "The book is well written and entertaining. The artwork is beautiful. Most likely middle-grade readers would enjoy this the most. It might be a little scary for younger readers."
• Rating on Amazon: 4.7 stars (out of 5), which is quite the difference from Goodreads. That might be due to some folks mistakenly rating the movie instead of the book, though.
• Amazon review excerpt: In 2011, octobercountry wrote: "This is a pleasant little diversion, a fun light ghost story. While Blackbeard the pirate was a rather terrible person in life, readers cannot help but feel sympathetic towards — or even fond of — his ghost. And I greatly appreciated the subtext of historical architectural preservation."