Five Days of the Ghost

November 1, 2010

Gr 6-9-It's the beginning of summer vacation, and Karen's older brother, John, wants to visit a nearby burial site for Chippewa chiefs at night. Karen reluctantly accompanies him. There they encounter a ghost who later tells Karen that she's got "big problems." Why is he there? How does he know what Karen is trying to hide from everyone else? When another ghost starts making trouble at Karen's house, she and John engage the help of Noah, who is a known expert about all things supernatural. The book seems to cover too much ground in five days and lacks a resolution that makes sense. At the beginning of the novel, Karen is still grieving the death of her twin brother, killed in a skateboarding accident two years earlier. She is about to start high school but isn't ready to grow up and get on with her life. The ghost encounter seems to precipitate her ability to let go of her brother. Readers will be left wondering why Karen, John, and Noah are able to find the ghosts so easily, even having an encounter in full daylight at one point. The author spends too much time describing the clothing of the young people and what they are eating, and not enough on their unresolved issues, such as Noah's troubled relationship with his father and his pain over his mother's abandonment. John, in contrast, seems to have no issues at all, and, aside from his weird clothing and food choices, readers never really get to know him.-Kathy Kirchoefer, Prince Georges County Memorial Library System, New Carrollton, MD

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