Skip to main content

Ghosts


Ghosts 
By Raina Telgemeier
Graphix, 2016. J Comics. 240p.

Catrina (Cat) and her family just moved to Bahía de la Luna in order to help keep her little sister Maya healthy. Maya has cystic fibrosis and the cool, salty air of the coastal town will help her breathing. The two girls encounter a local boy named Carlos and they quickly learn that Bahía de la Luna is a very unique town—ghosts visit the town on a regular basis. The ghosts are friendly and Maya wants to see them but they scare Cat for a number of reasons. Mostly because she is afraid of losing Maya. As Day of the Dead approaches, the biggest ghost day of the year for the town, Cat gets more and more anxious about the ghosts, a potential visit from her grandma’s spirit and Maya’s health. But that night, at the town’s large Day of the Dead party, everything changes for Cat and her family.

The ever-popular and critically acclaimed Raina Telgemeier has created another wonderful graphic novel with a solid and relatable female character. Although it tackles more serious themes than Telgemeier’s other works, Ghosts still has the characteristic humor and true to life emotion. With its expressive illustrations and expert storytelling, this is a great choice for not only established Telgemeier fans, but those new to her works or to graphic novels in general.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Stand Tall by Joan Bauer

Stand Tall By Siena Siegel by Joan Bauer Putnam, 2002, 182 pgs Realistic Fiction Tree is 12 years old and over 6 feet tall. That would be great if he were a basketball player, but he is not. Dealing with his unusual size is not Tree's only challenge. Tree's parents have recently gone through a divorce, and his grandfather has had his leg amputated as the result of an old Vietnam War injury. The strength of this book is the characterizations. All of the main characters are dimensional and sympathetic. Bauer sets the characters in real and often funny family situations. Best of all is the character of Tree. He is boy with a heart to match his stature. This is a great book for boys or girls ages 9-12, as a read aloud or for individual reading. This book could also be a good Rx book for children whose families are going through divorce, or for anyone who feels like they don't fit in.

Review: The New Girl

The New Girl By Cassandra Calin New York: Graphix, 2024. Comic. 261 pages. 12-year-old Lia and her family have just moved from Romania to Montreal, and she's doing her best to keep up with the changes. But, she's homesick. She misses the rest of her family, her friends, and her favorite Romanian treats. She doesn't speak French and her English is shaky, which makes it hard to make friends, even in her international immersion class. And she's dealing with super painful menstrual cramps every month. But before long, Lia starts to hit her stride. She befriends the other bilingual girls in her class, she gets a spot as the artist for her school's magazine, and even has a new crush -- Julien. Though she may be the new girl, Lia is starting to fit in. This slice of life graphic novel is an adorable choice for middle grade readers and young teens. Lia is a likable protagonist and readers will have little difficulty relating to her adjustment to school. The text speaks to a...

Review: Cincinnati Lee, Curse Breaker

  Cincinnati Lee, Curse Breaker By Heidi Heilig New York: Greenwillow Books, 2025. Fiction. 291 pages. Thanks to Cincinnati Lee's no good, dirty rotten, artifact stealing great great great grandfather, Cincinnati's family is now cursed and Cincinnati feels like it's up to her to break the curse. Which involves trying to steal the artifacts back from museums that her grandfather robbed from graves and archeological sites around the world and return them to their countries of origin. But when Cincinnati's first artifact stealing mission goes awry, she decides it might be more effective to steal an all-powerful artifact herself that she can use to break the curse - The Spear of Destiny. Unfortunately her race for the spear will pit her against art smugglers and thieves intent on finding the ancient artifact themselves. If you are looking for an Indiana Jones read-alike, this is the perfect for you! Heavy on the adventure with similar levels of mysticism to those seen in th...