A heartwarming ghost story where you get the perspective of the ghost, as well as, the people trying to help her rest for eternity. ( )

Ok. I appreciated the Diana Wynne Jones shoutout and the fact that the protagonist skipped most of the usual "ghosts aren't real" internal argument, but overall not anything to wrote home about. Also the mechanics of the ghost situation didn't make a lot of sense. ( )

Mary Downing Hahn tells a great ghost story! Her stories are written for a middle-grade audience, but even at 50-years old, I love her ghostly tales!

Jules and her parents move around a lot. Her dad restores historic old houses and buildings. So they live in one place only long enough for him to finish a project, then move on to another town and another restoration job. Jules is tired of moving, new schools and having no friends. Her father's newest project is Oak Hill, an old mansion in Hillsborough, VA. Locals say the house is haunted. When Jules sees the ghost of a young girl, she realizes the stories just might be true. She makes a new friend, Maisie, and the two girls start investigating the history of the house and why the spirit of the girl is trapped there.

This story is a bit spooky, but still age appropriate for middle-grade kids. Kids (and adults) who enjoy ghost stories would love this book.

I listened to the audio book version of this story. Narrated by Rachel Dulude, the audio is just under 4 hours long. Delude reads at a nice pace and has a pleasant voice. I have partial hearing loss but was easily able to hear and understand the entire book.

Mary Downing Hahn is the author of more than 30 middle-grade/young adult novels. Most of them are supernatural/lightly spooky tales. ( )

A heartwarming ghost story where you get the perspective of the ghost, as well as, the people trying to help her rest for eternity. ( )

Jules's family is often moving due to the nature of her dad's work -- restoring old houses to their former glory. The most recent house he's working on gives Jules the creeps, especially when she learns that a family was murdered there in the 1800s and the house has been rumored to be haunted ever since.

This is precisely the kind of ghost story I loved reading as a child. It's a bit spooky but not overly scary or gratuitous in its violence. It reveals itself more like a mystery, even if the reader has some more knowledge than the modern-day characters. (The story is told in alternating chapters between the ghost girl and the living girl.)

While some of the story is a bit simplistic (e.g., how Jules becomes instant best friends with Maisie after literally one brief meeting), this is a solid read for upper-elementary and middle-grade children. ( )