TO CATCH A GHOST

A child’s plan to trap a ghost runs smoothly…at first.

Sam’s just started a new school, and this week is show and tell. Nervous about making a good impression, the youngster decides to catch and bring in a ghost. Told in the second person, text comprised entirely of instructions for ghost hunting nods cheekily to hardboiled detective fiction. Donning a helmet-mounted camera, Sam scours the playground—aha! A ghost. Sam tries to understand the spirit’s personality and preferences in order to design the perfect trap. The two spend time together playing hide and seek, watering flowers, and sharing pizza. Finally, Sam builds a cage and baits it with the ghost’s favorite things. But when the lock clicks behind the forlorn-looking specter, Sam realizes that maybe trapping a friend isn’t the right thing to do after all. Shedding a tear, Sam lets the ghost go. Show and tell is nevertheless a rousing success: The other students enjoy the story of Sam’s ghost-hunting adventure, complete with photographic evidence. Sam’s new friends, both human and spirit, celebrate with pizza. The interplay of tightly crafted text and emotionally expressive illustrations, reminiscent of chalk drawings, results in a book that never wastes a word yet brims with layers of personality, tenderness, and humor. Sam has dark hair in pigtails and skin the white of the page.

Hauntingly good—quirky, amusing, and deeply felt.