It is the first day of the Summer break and friends Samantha and Jade are having a lazy day paddle boarding around their home town bay when Jade mentions that a new resort is going to be built on Danger Point after the death of the hermit who lived there. Sam and Jade go closer to investigate and discover a cave that leads from the sea directly to the top of the cliff. Sam climbs through the cave an emerges into a congregation of ghosts in a beautiful garden. The ghosts tell Sam she has been chosen to help them. Firstly though Sam must convince her friend Jade that the ghosts exist because she cannot see them. Together the 2 girls try to work out what is really going to happen at Danger Point and try to thwart the mayor's plan to build a huge resort that will not only destroy the wildlife but also flood their town with tourists. There's also a side story with Sam's little brother Pete discovering a strange creature that looks like a pterodactyl on the beach.
Nice enough graphic novel for pre-teens with the only annoying part being the girls giggling every time they see a boy which is a bit stereotyped. Students will like the mystery element. ( )

This low-key adventure might appeal to younger readers but was too sedate for me. And I never warmed to the art style with its odd faces and heads. ( )

The cover of this, and the description, sounded really attractive. But nobody in my entire consortium bought it when it came out last year so I couldn't preview it. I finally decided to bite the bullet and get it myself.

Samantha has always loved summer, being a lifeguard, hanging out with her best friend Jade. But this summer is different. Jade gets all giggly and silly around boys and there's something suspicious going on out at Danger Point. When Sam encounters ghosts, who insist that she has to help them save their home, things get even more complicated and she starts getting into trouble.

Can Sam save her friendship and her home? Will she ever understand how Jade feels about boys? What is the mystery of the ghost of Mr. Wu?

Soft pastels, fading to white in the ghost scenes, show an idyllic seaside scene with palm trees, a softly blue ocean, sandy beach, and spots of soft color in bathing suits, surf boards, and tourist stops.

The main character is white, her friend Jade is Asian-American. The ghosts include a variety of prior inhabitants, from Chinese immigrants to the indigenous inhabitants. It's troublesome that many of the ghosts, especially the Native Americans, are shown only as dead people - and cultures. It's also problematic that Mr. Wu chooses a young white girl to be the new "savior".

SPOILERS

There is a lot of wish fulfillment in the end; dolphins saving Sam's life (they talk to her as a friend), the mayor turning out to be a con man who is arrested by the FBI, the discovery of treasure, etc. I also have questions about Sam's first "boyfriend" being a ghost. How, exactly, is that going to work?

Verdict: This is a light and frothy beach read, a fun graphic novel to skim through and set aside. I'll be interested in seeing how future volumes handle diversity. An additional purchase.

ISBN: 9781603094115; Published 2017 by Top Shelf; Purchased for the library

Cataloged as YGN ( )