SILENCE SPEAKS

Two eighth grade mystery solvers with paranormal abilities get caught up in ghostly adventures in this middle-grade novel.

Breanne is a White girl nearly 6 feet tall; math and science whiz Sonny is Black and barely over 5 feet tall. The sole occupants of the nerd table in their middle school lunchroom, they may be eighth grade social outcasts, but they’re not only loaded with smarts, they also have secret, paranormal gifts. Breanne can talk to spirits, and Sonny can see them. The best friends teamed up for ghostly escapades in the first two volumes of Paavola’s fantasy/mystery series (Jack and the Beanpole, 2019; Call Me Firefly, 2019). Book No. 3 (Astrobia, 2020) added Sonny’s abduction by aliens into the spectral mix. This fourth installment offers the pair new mysteries to solve that include possible arson on campus, another cold case (courtesy of Breanne’s grandfather, a retired police detective), fresh bullies to cope with, and new ghosts to help cross over. All of this as Sonny battles the nightmarish trauma of a claustrophobic experience during his forced stay on the planet Astrobia. (Readers may become a bit lost if they aren’t familiar with events in the third novel.) Bullying is front and center here, as it was in Call Me Firefly. But even as Sonny, in particular, is threatened with physical harm by a dangerous troublemaker and a former mean-girl nemesis reignites rumors that Breanne, whose abilities are expanding, is a witch, the pair’s supportive social circle increases—and so does the number of people seated at the nerd table. The distinctive first-person narrators switch among Sonny, Breanne, and ghost girl Hadley. Breanne’s grandpa, Sonny’s grandmother, and a teacher are sympathetic, in-the-know adult characters. The author makes deafness a major, informative plot point involving one living young woman and two touchingly depicted, helpful ghost children. Paavola deftly addresses misunderstandings some have about people who are deaf and weaves in facts about sign language and service dogs. An unfortunate stumble in the author’s laudatory ability to combine storytelling with healthy, age-appropriate messages—about logical thinking and problem-solving, friendship, diversity, acceptance, and empathy—occurs when Sonny uses the word spaz to castigate himself for being clumsy.

Another eventful, often thoughtful addition to an enjoyable paranormal series.