LILY'S GHOSTS
by Laura Ruby
HarperCollins
ISBN: 0060518316
Ages 9-12
272 pages

• About the Book
• Read an Excerpt
• Critical Praise

For what feels like the hundredth time, Lily and her mother Arden have moved. This time, though, they are really scraping the bottom of the barrel. Having very little money, they are forced to stay at Uncle Wes's house in the historic city of Cape May.

Lily, full of anger at her lot in life, discovers that something very strange is going on in the old house. Objects seem to move around by themselves, someone puts jam in her shoes, and she receives strange phone calls. Then there are the secrets about her mother's family. How did strange Uncle Max die and why doesn't her mother talk about her family at all?

It isn't long before Lily realizes that, even though Uncle Max may be dead, he isn't gone. There is something that his restless ghost wants from her, and the sooner she finds out what it is, the better.

Laura Ruby pulls you into her extraordinary story from the very first page. There are in fact parallel stories being told: Lily's story and the story of the ghosts who live in Cape May. Both stories are sad at times, with lost souls looking for something that will give their existence (or the end of their existence) some meaning. Ruby keeps the two tales apart until the end of the book when they collide, the ghosts and the living people coming together in a fitting finale.

Gripping and beautifully written with highly visual descriptive passages and a touch of black humor, LILY'S GHOSTS will alternately touch and amuse the reader. It also encourages thought about the afterlife, and there will be times when one might feel compelled to turn on a few more lights or get up to see if the doors are locked.

   --- Reviewed by Marya Jansen-Gruber (mjansengruber@mindspring.com)

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