THE GHOST SITTER

Griffin’s (Switching Well, 1993, etc.) worthy ghost story of the lost spirit of a ten-year-old is as thought-provoking as it is goosebump-inducing. Susie has been dead for 50 years but doesn’t know it. She vaguely remembers promising her little sister, Gloria, that she would never go away, and she feels bound by this vow even though Gloria and her parents have long since moved. While Susie awaits their return, a family has moved into the house she occupies. The new family includes Charlotte, Brandon, her toddler brother, and their parents. Susie feels compelled to help out with the babysitting by singing and playing with Brandon, who very much enjoys her company while everyone else, Susie feels, rudely acts as though she doesn’t exist. With the help of neighborhood legend and some odd occurrences Charlotte is soon given to understand that her house is haunted. The story moves along interestingly as Charlotte overcomes her fear in order to help Susie move on. This diverges from the average ghost story by giving dimension to Susie’s ghostliness. Trapped between then and now, life and death, Susie’s existence is a constant struggle. She must use great quantities of energy to concentrate as ideas and memories waft away like vapor and she is further frustrated that her attempts to communicate go unnoticed by most. This is entertaining fiction that doesn’t for a moment sacrifice solid writing for plot. (Fiction. 8-12)