PHANTOM ACADEMY

After being killed by a falling coconut, 12-year-old Finn finds himself in a spectral boarding school, where he joins other young ghosts yearning to revisit their families.

Virnig seems undecided as to whether to let her tale’s farcical elements take charge over its more poignant themes, and the sudden mood swings can be disorienting. Still, there’s plenty to snicker over at Phantom Academy, a “School for Underage Ghosts,” from gross but obligatory meals of ogre boogers and brown mush that “smells like rancid fish sautéed in dog poop” to animated wall paintings of a mysterious lady with a bushy mustache and a farting dragon (with a realistic rotten egg smell). From the moment he arrives, Finn, who’s cued white, sharply misses his beloved family. So, while learning the rules of ghostiness, often the hard way (yes, ghosts poop; no, they can’t walk through walls), he undertakes a determined search for a rumored portal back to the Land of the Living. In the end, Finn has second thoughts after interactions with a wise teacher suggest that his return might do more harm than good. But, considering how the author opens a floodgate for potential sequels by strewing this volume with tantalizing mysteries and exciting possibilities for ghostly explorations of both the spirit and earthly worlds, Finn’s future looks anything but dim.

A heartfelt ghost story with a promising setup, although the highs and lows work at cross purposes.