By Rachel M. Marsh
New York: Greenwillow Books, 2026. Fiction. 238 pages.
12-year-old Basil Theriot is haunted by the ghost of her grandfather. At his funeral, Grandpere shows up in the back row, and Basil is the only one who can see him. Basil begins to follows G'Pere's instructions to see if she can help him move on. Meanwhile, her family's restaurant is in disarray as Basil's father takes over as head chef and tries to figure out G'Pere's secret ingredient. G'Pere warns Basil that he regrets the restaurant and bringing his family to the city of New Orleans and away from the bayous where their Cajun family originated. This is all fine by Basil, because she secretly hates the family business and resents her parents' dream for her to someday take over. With her school's Career Day looming, Basil and her best friend Tommy, follow G'Pere's ghost on a journey to reconnect with the Theriot's Cajun roots by venturing into Louisiana's swamps and wetlands where Basil learns the importance of coastal preservation—and how to be a more honest friend.
The setting in this book really pulls through, and it is enriched by Basil's Cajun heritage and Tommy's Creole-Italian family. Because Basil grows up in a Cajun restaurant, there is an emphasis on the smells and flavors of food in a city known for it's unique cuisine. But this book also pays tribute to wild Louisiana, explaining how government intervention led to an increase of devastating hurricanes in the area. This is my favorite kind of book—one with a lot of middle grade appeal, and lots of moving parts that come together in the end. This one also offers hope for our environmental future, in the hands of young people.
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