July 14, 2026 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
The house across the street from Flora's, Thirteen Bly Street, embodies everything about the typical haunted house, and has seen some turnover. She's excited when a new family moves in two weeks before school starts. Fourth grader Danny seems a bit odd, but Mac is Flora's age and tremendously bubbly and friendly. The two become friends, and have a great start to the school year. There are some odd things happening; Mac's mother is missing a variety of objects, Flora has seen a creepy face in a window of the house, and Danny's behavior is increasingly odd. Still, the year is going well, and Mrs. Carlton, the girls' teacher, is great. Mac usually has a big birthday party for her birthday, and the girls spend a lot of time planning it and making invitations. Sadly, the invitations are ruined while they are in Flora's backpack, and she has a scary experience at school trying to find the person who did it. Mac is understanding, and the party goes forward. Sadly, Flora has another experience, and leaves early, but not before overhearing her mother discussing some of Mac's behavior at her old school. Eventually, Danny gives Flora some information about what he thinks is going on, and some of Flora and Mac's friends from school overhear the hypothesis that there is a ghost, Daphne, possessing Mac. One of the kids, Dirk, has an older brother who claims he can help, and the kids set up a seance to try to reason with Daphne. Some intriguing ties to other people in the community are made, and the parents even step in to help. Will it be enough to put the ghost's spirit to rest?
Strengths: I loved that Flora generally found it hard to make friends, but easily connected with Mac, and through her, a lot of other students at school. Sure, there were some odd moments (Danny offering her some mangled roses with bloodied hands was a nice touch!), but Mac is usually so nice! There are plenty of inexplicable, slightly creepy things, intimations that Mac had trouble at her previous school, and some treacherous moments, but they all seemed to fade with the daylight. What's more troubling than THAT? The best part of this was that everyone took Flora's concerns seriously; I loved Dirk and his brother's attempts to deal with the ghost. It was especially nice that the parents were also brought it, and I absolutely adored the connection that Daphne had to a figure prominent in Flora and Mac's lives (but don't want to give it away). Krampien's illustrations are just perfect, and I wish that we would see this level of illustration in more middle grade books. I miss the days of Joe and Beth Krush and Robert McCloskey illustrating novels.
Weaknesses: While this had its scary moments, it wasn't quite as scary as the work of K.R. Alexander or Lindsay Duga. My students want really frightening, murderous ghosts like the ones in Kelly and Warga's The Last Resort series or Currie's X Marks the Haunt.
What I really think: This is a perfect scary ghost story for the younger end of the middle grade spectrum, and a perfect choice for readers who enjoyed books like Strong's Secret Ghost Club or Oh's The House Next Door. If there are still Betty Ren Wright books lingering in your library, this would be a good choice to replace them.
Strengths: I loved that Flora generally found it hard to make friends, but easily connected with Mac, and through her, a lot of other students at school. Sure, there were some odd moments (Danny offering her some mangled roses with bloodied hands was a nice touch!), but Mac is usually so nice! There are plenty of inexplicable, slightly creepy things, intimations that Mac had trouble at her previous school, and some treacherous moments, but they all seemed to fade with the daylight. What's more troubling than THAT? The best part of this was that everyone took Flora's concerns seriously; I loved Dirk and his brother's attempts to deal with the ghost. It was especially nice that the parents were also brought it, and I absolutely adored the connection that Daphne had to a figure prominent in Flora and Mac's lives (but don't want to give it away). Krampien's illustrations are just perfect, and I wish that we would see this level of illustration in more middle grade books. I miss the days of Joe and Beth Krush and Robert McCloskey illustrating novels.
Weaknesses: While this had its scary moments, it wasn't quite as scary as the work of K.R. Alexander or Lindsay Duga. My students want really frightening, murderous ghosts like the ones in Kelly and Warga's The Last Resort series or Currie's X Marks the Haunt.
What I really think: This is a perfect scary ghost story for the younger end of the middle grade spectrum, and a perfect choice for readers who enjoyed books like Strong's Secret Ghost Club or Oh's The House Next Door. If there are still Betty Ren Wright books lingering in your library, this would be a good choice to replace them.
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