Ghost stories

 I am not a super big fan of ghost stories.  I like historical fiction.  I like magical realism.  I don't like scary things.  I don't like monsters.  So ghosts do not typically figure prominently into the books I read.  Until the CYBILS award period, where I read virtually all of the fantasy or speculative fiction that has been published in the current year.  It turns out that other people DO like to read about ghosts and scary things so I read along.  It's super fun but it can be a bit daunting to see a TBR pile that stretches all over the house.  Or when someone asks you when you leave the library "Are there any books left?".  Then you channel your inner Dory ("just keep swimming, swimming, swimming").    So here are two I really liked.

The first one I finished this morning and I'd had my eye on it for awhile, because it's written by a favorite author-RJ Palacio.  You might remember her first book that had some critical and fan acclaim "Wonder"?  One of my favorite books, ever!  Anyway, I was excited to get this new one and was a little surprised to find it so different from Wonder (in a good way).  This one is historical fiction.  It's dotted with old photographs of men and it's told from a 12 year old's perspective.  Silas Bird has had an unusual life up to the point of the start of the book.  His mother died in childbirth (but he can remember her clearly).  He lives with his kind, brilliant father, who makes his living making boots but also experiments with the beginnings of photography.  Silas was struck by lighting as a five year old and has a mark on his back like branching tree.  Silas does not attend school because his best friend is a ghost named Mittenwool.  One night, Mittenwool warns Silas that some armed men are approaching the house.  The men tell his dad that they are both meant to come with them to meet another man who would like some help with a project.   They make it clear that there isn't really a choice in the matter but Silas's dad insists that Silas stay at home and that he will be back with in the week.  The men ride off but Silas feels compelled to follow them and when the horse that they brought for Silas to ride, a horse with a wide white head, turns up at the house, Silas takes it as a sign to follow.  What comes next is an epic adventure, with surprising plot twists and big themes of love and the afterlife and it would be a shame for me to spoil it by telling you any more!  This would be a wonderful story to read with a book club to talk about connections and the afterlife and maybe even about how we judge people from first impressions.  I liked it a lot but I think it's meant for kids bigger than mine, probably middle school and up because I don't think the younger kids have enough life experiences for some of it to make sense.  A wonderful, well written tale nonetheless.  

Here's the cover.

And here's the book trailer

The second one is called Ghost Girl.  It's written by Allie Malinenko and it's her debut novel.  It's about Zee who lives in a small town in the mountains where things are typically pretty quiet.  In fact, at the opening of the book, Zee is absolutely delighted that there is a terrible storm because it's so different from the usual weather.  Zee's mom died a while back and they miss her terribly.  Her dad has gone away to look for work, so it's just Zee and her sister to take care of things.  Her big sister Abby is trying to finish high school and works at the local diner.  Zee has one good friend, Elijah, who lives close by but Elijah is struggling a bit too-his mom has been sick and his dad wants him to be a big sports hero, but Elijah just isn't into it.  Zee's class goes on a field trip to a local library and she meets Paul, who is nice, but seems out of place (his accent and his clothes seem strange).  It turns out Paul is a ghost who lives in the library and that earns Zee her new nickname-Ghost Girl.  But things get really weird when people start disappearing, including the principal from Zee's school.  The new principal, Principal Scratch, immediately rubs Zee the wrong way, but everyone else seems to love him.  Zee feels like she alone can get things back to normal.  This is a really fun story to read-it's exciting,  most of the characters feel like people you would know and maybe want to be friends with (ok, really NOT Scratch).  It has big themes of friendship, dealing with loss, and the connection between people who love one another deeply and what that might look like after death.  I really liked this one and I think the kids at my school would like it too.