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GHOST ROAST

A fresh and charming modern Southern ghost story starring a plucky hero who isn’t afraid to stand up for the truth.

A high school student tries to solve a long-buried mystery involving the spirits haunting a New Orleans mansion.

After years of being known as the Ghost Girl from the Seventh Ward, 15-year-old Chelsea Grant is now a member of the popular crowd. Shortly before summer vacation, a rowdy night out with friends ends in a jail cell. Much to her chagrin, Chelsea must spend the summer working for her father’s ghost-removal agency as punishment. When her dad is hired to exorcise Harrington Manor, Chelsea assumes the job will be another bust. However, soon after setting foot on the former sugarcane plantation, Chelsea, who is Black, realizes she can see and speak to the manor’s ghosts—including Oliver, the gorgeous Harrington heir who went missing in 1879. As Chelsea’s friendship with Oliver deepens, she uncovers grave secrets, and Oliver lies at the heart of them. In this well-paced graphic novel by the Gibbs sisters and debut artist Cannon, the tender flush of a first romance is effectively wrapped up in historical intrigue. Chelsea’s relationship with her parents is crafted with realism, and the manor’s legacy of slavery is explored with honesty. The lively and expressive manga-style illustrations complement the narrative well. Present-day scenes feature a rich, vibrant palette, while Chelsea’s flashbacks and historical interludes use faded tones.

A fresh and charming modern Southern ghost story starring a plucky hero who isn’t afraid to stand up for the truth. (Graphic paranormal. 13-18)

Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2024

ISBN: 9780358141815

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Versify/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023

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THE CHANGING MAN

A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.

After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.

Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.

A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)

Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023

ISBN: 9781250868138

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023

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AFTER LIFE

A spiritual, intriguing, though somewhat uneven take on life, grief, and healing.

A high school senior returns to her family home—after she’s been dead for years.

Forman’s ability to capture the voices of teens shines in this heart-wrenching story of Amber Crane’s life, death, and (sort of) undeath. Amber, who reads white, died seven years ago, but on this day just before graduation, she’s standing in her family home, seemingly alive. The first people to see Amber are her mother—who, clearly in shock, starts screaming—and her younger sister, Missy, who’s now a blue-haired teenager. Amber doesn’t even realize she’s supposed to be dead until Missy tells her so. And that’s when the work of trying to make sense of what Amber’s doing here kicks into gear. Told from myriad points of view—so many, one could get lost—the novel threads together the lives of people in Amber’s orbit (and even some who didn’t know her directly), incorporating current-day perspectives as well as ones from the past. The story even goes as far back as 29 years, to the day when Amber’s parents met. While some of the backstory feels extraneous, and the chapters written from adults’ perspectives feel less compelling than those of the teen lead, Forman continually returns to Amber’s point of view, grounding her as the heart of this story, a necessary device to keep readers invested in the enduring question: Why is she back?

A spiritual, intriguing, though somewhat uneven take on life, grief, and healing. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14-18)

Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025

ISBN: 9780063346147

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024

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