Ghost Girl,

by Brooke Carter, illustrations by Alyssa Waterbury. Published Orca Book Publishers, 2023.

A fast-reading early chapter book perfect for elementary school age kids, and just in time for fall and Halloween.  It’s fun yet not too scary, with lots of eerie haunted house style illustrations.  Ten-year-old nonbinary Sly is spending the weekend with their fortune-telling Grandma Madsen, who is, if not a witch, at least has magical powers.  Madsen Mansion, Grandma’s mysterious old house, looks scary and seems to be haunted.  It has a pointy tower on one side, lifelike statues of wolves along the roof, iron bars on the windows, and heavy double front doors with strange symbols carved on them.  Sly’s mom explains the letters are Gaelic, the language of Celtic ancestors, and the words mean that the doors are a threshold between without and within.  Grandma explains further, saying “This house is a special place.  A thin place.  A place where the veil between worlds is thin and the spirits can squeeze through.”  Once inside, Sly notices paintings of a girl, about her age, who their grandma says is a distant cousin from long ago that vanished, without a trace and was never seen again.  The girl vanished during Samhain, a Celtic holiday that just happens to begin on October 31^st, Halloween.  And guess what night Sly has chosen as the first night to stay at their grandma’s house, the first night of Samhain, when the veil between worlds is very thin.  When Sly goes to bed that night, they hear a voice calling to them, saying “I need your help, Sly!”   When Sly and their grandma hear the voice calling again the next day, Sly unlocks a cabinet that reveals a ghost girl who is trapped in a mirror.  It’s the same girl who vanished without a trace many years before.  When Sly accidentally speaks the words of the spell that enchanted the girl in the first place, Sly and their grandma become imprisoned in the mirror too.  With the clock ticking down until the end of Samhain, it’s up to Sly to solve a series of ghostly riddles and puzzles located around the house and find a long-lost book of spells in hopes of freeing them, or all three will remain trapped forever. 

The reader is sent on a “haunted house chase” with Sly around Madsen Mansion searching for clues and solving riddles.  Here are just a couple of the riddles that Sly must solve in the story:  What can’t talk but will reply when spoken to?  What has many keys but can’t open a single lock?  There are a total of seven riddles in all, and don’t worry the answers to the riddles are included in the story. 

Sly is nonbinary but that is not the focus of this story, it’s just who they are. They do wear a cape over their clothes, even over their pajamas, because it makes them feel good and feel safe.  The author lets the reader know that Sly is loved unconditionally by their parents and their grandma.  At just under 100 pages, this is a great read-a-loud story to share, as well as a fun introduction to spooky stories for early to mid-elementary school readers to enjoy reading on their own.  Ghost Girl was shortlisted for the 2025 Hackmatack Award and the 2025 Chocolate Lily Award.

Brooke Carter is a Canadian novelist.  She earned her BFA and MFA degrees in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, and loves to read, daydream, write, teach, and spend time with family.   She writes, “Ghost Girl is for those who live in the in-between places, as all the very best people do.

Alyssa Waterbury is an illustrator from London, Ontario.  A graduate of the Sheridan College illustration program, her work aims to keep things thoughtful, with a dash of playfulness.

This book review was submitted by Stand with Trans
advocate Barb Shumer, who is a past board member and
retired public librarian.