LORI HASKINS has written more than twenty books for kids. She lives in Florida with her two book-loving boys.

VIVIANA DIAZ earned a degree from the Ringling School of Art and Design in Florida. She later worked as a scenic artist with the Dallas Theater Center and Southwest Studios in Texas, and has taught courses in illustration at Pratt Manhattan.

American history mixes with legend in four classic ghost tales for Step 4 early readers: a Cape Cod ghost horse that leads ships away from danger; a portrait that protests being moved within Virginia's Shirley Plantation museum; a Colorado miner who continued to look for love even after his bones were dumped down an outhouse hole; and a one-handed California sea captain whose ghost is still said to prowl Stinson Beach.

Step 4 Readers use challenging vocabulary and short paragraphs to tell exciting stories. For newly independent readers who read simple sentences with confidence.