THE GHOSTS IN THE CLOUDS

It’s off to the rescue when the Hotel Strange’s ghostly concierge is arrested for not scaring people.

Hardly are the dust bunnies and other residents of the Hotel Strange (“It’s a little weird, but it’s never boring”) beginning to settle in for the winter than a pair of ghostly police officers whisk Mr. Snarf away. Setting off in pursuit, Marietta and Celestin—both light-skinned human children—along with Mr. Leclair, a dapper rat, and shaggy purple troublemaker Kiki are sucked up through a tornado to the cloudy Land of Ghosts. There, the law of the, er, land is “It is forbidden.” But all is quickly and happily resolved, as Kiki moons a horrified crowd to get the rescuers thrown into jail with Mr. Snarf, and charges are dismissed once Mr. Leclair unsticks a page in the Rulebook of Ghosts to reveal Rule Rainbow: “It is forbidden to forbid.” Aside from the children, everyone in Ferrier’s neatly arranged sequential panels is an animal or some sort of (unscary) monster in human garb.

A mouthwatering recipe for caramels at the end is but one reason young readers will want to check in to this series.