Adrian F. San Roman
October 14, 2025
Independent Reading
Campfire Stories: From Coast to Coast, by Barbara Smith, is the book I chose of scary and mysterious stories from different parts of Canada. Each story is told as if people were sitting around a campfire, sharing real local legends. One story that I liked a lot is about a haunted hotel in the Yukon, where guests hear voices and footsteps at night. The author uses strong description to make readers feel they are really there, alone in the dark.
“Guests at the hotel often spoke of strange noises echoing through the halls—footsteps when no one was there, doors closing by themselves, and whispers that seemed to come from the walls. Some said it was the ghost of a miner who never left, still looking for his lost gold.” (p. 182)
This quotation shows the kind of mystery that makes this book fun and scary to read. It creates a feeling of suspense and curiosity because the people don’t know what is real or not. I chose this part because it shows how the author mixes history and ghost legends to make readers imagine the stories as true. It also connects to one of the book’s main ideas: that every place has its own secrets and stories that live on through people’s memories.