THE GHOSTS OF PANDORA PICKWICK

A curious girl explores her strong connection to the spirit world in this translated German import set in England.

Mia Jones’ life is full of mystery. She feels less at home with her adoptive parents than she does with her aunt Harriet, her adoptive mom’s sister. Mia loves spending time at Harriet’s dusty old shop, Pandora’s Antiques, which was named after Mia’s late grandmother, Pandora Pickwick. When her parents take off to travel around the U.S. for their shoelace business, Mia persuades them to let her stay with Aunt Harriet. The shop, whose aisles are crammed with curios, is also, as Mia discovers, “a placement agency for ghosts” in need of new homes. Soon, unlike most people, Mia is able to see the ghosts in broad daylight. She befriends a spectral boy named Alistair, and together they experiment with the thin line between the human and spirit dimensions. But the deeper Mia dives into the spirit world, the more complicated and exciting things get: Vicious worms prey on unlucky ghosts, an ominous figure with a noose haunts the corners of Mia’s vision, and Pickwick ancestor Sir Paxton Blake plans his 400th birthday party—with a special role for Mia. Following some pace-slowing exposition, the story ramps up into a flurry of action and adventure, stretching the imagination and hurtling headlong toward an eerie, exciting resolution. The phrase “real parents” is repeatedly used to refer to white-presenting Mia’s birth parents.

Unevenly paced yet satisfyingly spooky in the end.