The Ghoul Next Door

By Cullen Bunn

Illustrated by Cat Farris

New York: HarperAlley, 2021. Comic.

11-year-old Grey is having a bad day. While taking a shortcut through the cemetery on his way to school, he trips and drops his school project -- a diorama of the cemetery -- into an open grave, where it is promptly snatched by a claw-like hand. That night, he sees the creature again as a hunched-over figure in his bedroom. Eventually, Grey decides to make contact with the creature and finds an unexpected new friend -- a ghoul named Lavinia. Grey and Lavinia become fast friends, much to the chagrin of Grey's living best friend Marshall. But things are only going to get worse. It turns out, ghouls are not supposed to become friends with "surface-dwellers," and when Marshall is taken as punishment, Grey and Lavinia must brave the Kingdom of the Dead to save his life.

This is a perfectly spooky and delightfully macabre graphic novel to start spooky season. Without ever being too scary, Cat Farris' creepy watercolor illustrations set the tone for the novel with shadowy figures and muted tones. The blend of humor and horror is masterfully handled in this graphic novel that celebrates friendships (especially unusual friendships) and slips in a dose of historical intrigue as well. Readers may want to read this one during the day time, but they for sure don't want to miss it.

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