NOT QUITE A GHOST

This novel set in Minneapolis combines the stress of changes with a haunting.

Eleven-year-old Violet is about to enter middle school. If that wasn’t anxiety-inducing enough, her mom and stepdad announce that they will be moving. To Violet’s relief, she’ll still be in the same school district with her two best friends. The move to a larger if decrepit Victorian means that Violet and Mia, her older sister, won’t be sharing a room anymore, something Violet has mixed feelings about. Her new attic room is private, but the ugly wallpaper in a mustard-and-green vine-filled pattern is decidedly creepy. Soon after starting school, Violet begins to have nightmares about the wallpaper coming to life, and she starts to feel weak and tired. Doctors can find nothing wrong, and her best friends become skeptical, implying it’s all in her head. Meanwhile, Violet tries to navigate the strains of middle school—fitting in and changing friendships—with the ever-increasing menace of the haunted attic and its link, presented possibly as a metaphor, to her chronic illness. This storyline works pretty well, addressing the experience of invisible disabilities, which are too rarely represented in middle-grade fiction, but some readers may wish for the connection between Violet’s illness and the ghost to feature a clearer resolution. Violet and her mom are white; Violet’s stepfather is Black, and other characters bring diversity in race and sexual orientation.

An ambitious presentation exploring resonant themes.