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Book Review: The Ghost Hunter’s Daughter by Caroline Flarity

The Ghost Hunter’s Daughter by Caroline Flarity

East Side Press, 2019

ISBN-13: 978-0996845007

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

 

Anna Fagan lives in a haunted house, but that’s the least of her problems. Her father, Jack, is well-known for his ability to “clear” spirits from the objects they haunt, but since the traumatic death of her mother, his ability is fading and he’s picked up the habit of hoarding, aggressively. He stores holy water in the refrigerator, and “cleared” objects in the basement, where Anna is forbidden to go (the results of Jacks’s hoarding exposed when Anna breaks into the basement later in the story is one of the most appalling things in the book: previously haunted objects are the least of the problems).  Now the lack of space has led Jack to rent an office to reinvigorate his business. He has hired a new investigator, Geneva Sanders, a scientist who has invented a new way to see the electrical activity that indicates that ghosts and supernatural forces are at work.

Anna is also suffering from grief and guilt over her mother’s death, but at school, she has other problems. With the exception of her friends Doreen and Freddy, Anna is mocked by other students with the nickname “Goblin Girl”. Izzy, the school sleazebucket, has decided she’d make a perfect target for his meanness and slut-shaming, while also throwing disgusting homophobic slurs at Freddy. Anna, focused on getting her crush, Craig, to notice her, while trying to manage her family problems and an uptick in paranormal activity, misses out on the serious problems Doreen and Freddy are dealing with. As levels of hostility and violence rise in town, Geneva theorizes that unusual solar flares are being harnessed by a malevolent spirit who is using them to feed on people’s anger and pain.

Flarity’s choice to make Anna the point-of-view character works beautifully here. There is so much going on in this book, especially in the larger picture of things, and yet we see that world through the self-centered tunnel vision of a teenager– which is perfect for a teenager in a YA novel. Our view widens with hers, and we see the story pull together as she does. Getting the story from Anna’s point of view means we are up close to her character growth.

This book reminds me a lot of Lois Duncan’s YA books, except that her books didn’t have the broader supernatural conspiracy behind this story. I’m not sure how many boys would choose to read this, but I hope they will, because there are parts that should really make them think. How many people say and do things without thinking, especially when they are angry or feeling hopeless, that regret it later?

Recommended.

 

Contains: suicide, suicidal ideation, mental illness (hoarding), self-harm, animal cruelty, bullying, abusive adults, violence, cyberbullying. rape culture, distribution of provocative images of a minor.

Posted on October 7, 2019 by , Reply

Book Review: Peter Green and the Unliving Academy: This Book is Full of Dead People (The Unliving Chronicles #1) by Angelina Allsop

Peter Green and the Unliving Academy: This Book is Full of Dead People (The Unliving Chronicles #1) by Angelina Allsop

TCK Publishing, 2018

ISBN-13: 978-1631610646

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

Fourteen year old Peter Green wakes up on the floor of a hotel lobby wearing only pajamas and a silk tie, and discovers he is dead, has no memories of his life, and is stuck in Purgatory without them until he is 18, or family claims him. After navigating the bueracracy of Purgatory (and of course Purgatory has bueracracy) he is sent to a boarding school for other “orphans” or unclaimed children. Scoot, an action-oriented redhead who carries her head under her arm, and Charlie, a flamboyant dresser who can’t keep a secret, orient him to the school and get him to his first classes. Peter soon learns that the school isn’t just for the unliving– it’s also the home of monsters, most of whom are part of the staff. He quickly gets on the wrong side of the school bully, Shelly Grant, causing a number of mishaps, and is then invited to join BASA, a special club that trains students in the skills they need to become spies and assassins in the “community”.  As he adapts to school and throws himself into his training for BASA, he can’t let go of a feeling that he needs to help his family, and with the help of his friends, steals the file containing his memories.

The world building in this is nicely done, and I liked Peter’s friends– especially Charlie– and some of the other characters Allsop got into in depth, such as Katerina the witch. As a magical boarding school book, it’s pretty well done, and while there are some similarities to Harry Potter, it’s mostly not noticeable (the werewolf professor, the giant snake roaming the hallways, the special Halloween visit to town). Allsop also manages to make what could be a pretty grim and scary topic genuinely entertaining and even humorous at times . It’s Peter himself whose character and story are thin. Perhaps some of this is because he doesn’t have memories (and thus not much of a personality) for much of the book, but while individual adventures and incidents get exciting, the suspense of whether he’ll be able to get back to his family is just not there, until suddenly, it’s a time sensitive emergency.  I hoped that we’d see more of the school in a future book, as this appears to be the first in a series, but the ending of the book makes that unlikely.

Despite Peter’s age being set at 14, the book feels like it’s targeted at middle-grade readers rather than teenagers. Kids looking for a “magical boarding school book” should enjoy this one, and hopefully, now that Peter has his memories back, there will be further character development to make him more interesting in the next book. Recommended.

 

Posted on June 30, 2019 by , Reply

Book List: Schools for Peculiar Children

      

 

Miss Peregine’s Home for Peculiar Children hits theaters this week, and it will be interesting to see how it measures up to the book. It looks cool– click here for a link to the trailer. For me, the letters and the real photographs used, and the scrapbook-type format, were much of what made it intriguing, and I can’t imagine how that will translate to the screen. But the trailers look pretty awesome, so even if the movie doesn’t turn out to be just like the book, perhaps it will stand well on its own.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is far from the first book to be set in a school or home intended for particularly unusual children, though– some really excellent books for middle grade and teen readers exist in this category.  Here are a few you might check out.

 

Down a Dark Hall by Lois Duncan

Kit Gordy is attending an extremely exclusive, isolated, boarding school. Spoiler: it’s also haunted by ghosts who take possession of the students to create amazing works of art. Nothing could possibly go wrong here, right? This is a good one for tweens and middle schoolers, although, in my opinion, you don’t outgrow Lois Duncan.

 

 

The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls by Claire LeGrand

This is a disturbed fairy tale of a book. Victoria, a perfect 12 year old in every way, living in a picture-perfect community, has chosen just one friend, the very imperfect, messy, and musical Lawrence. When Lawrence disappears, Victoria goes on a search for him, uncovering some very unpleasant things. As more children disappear, and creepy creatures start invading, Victoria becomes even more determined to solve the mystery. She discovers that the orphanage across the street is actually a deeply disturbing, magically operated facility with the mission of turning all the imperfect children that have disappeared, including Lawrence, into identical, perfect children, Stepford-style. Mrs. Cavendish, the headmistress of the school, is truly diabolical, and the school itself is creepy, disquieting, and disorienting. This one is not for the faint of stomach, but people who liked Coraline  or the more nightmarish writing of Roald Dahl might very well like this. This is Gothic children’s horror at its best– highly recommended, but for no younger than age 10.

Contains: body horror, cannibalism, insect hordes, torture.

 

Matilda by Roald Dahl

Speaking of Roald Dahl, Matilda is surely every book lover’s favorite story of a peculiar child. While her school isn’t specifically for peculiar children, the people who work there certainly qualify as peculiar, especially the headmistress. You can’t help cheering for Matilda as she uses her unusual powers to defeat the sadistic Miss Trunchbull.

 

The Grounding of Group 6  by Julian F. Thompson

What’s a parent to do when a child repeatedly breaks the rules, gets thrown out of school again, or breaks that last straw? You send them to the school of last resort– Coldbrook County School– and then never worry about them again. That’s right, the school will take care of your problem child for you, in a permanent way, while the students are out on retreat in a wooded area full of sinkholes. Nothing supernatural in this book, all the horror is in the way humans treat each other.
I’d wait until high school to read this one– it’s got some harrowing moments. There’s also an implied sexual relationship between one of the students, in her late teens, and her “counselor”, who is in his twenties.

 

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

After the death of her mother, Gemma Doyle is sent from her home in India to a young ladies’ boarding school in Victorian England. Gemma has visions, and her unusual upbringing and uncanny knowledge mean a chilly reception from the other girls. Gemma learns to control the visions so she can visit magical realms. As she makes friends, she involves them in her journeys, but while the girls enjoy the power and escape they have in the realms, Gemma learns there is also a darker side. This is the first book in a trilogy: the other two books are Rebel Angels and The Sweet Far Thing. Recommended for middle school and up.


Posted on September 28, 2016 by , Reply
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