Lily's Ghosts

Ruby, Laura.  A Harper Trophy Book, New York, 2003.

A Parent's Choice Silver Honor Book.

Moving to a new place is a traumatic experience for a young girl.  What would make it even more traumatic?  A beach full of ghosts, maybe.  Lily and her mother have fallen on hard times.  They move to her Great Uncle's house in Cape May, New Jersey, just until they get back on their feet.

Lily was home schooled so she really didn't know anyone.  One day she met a cute boy, Vaz.  She began hanging around with him when her mother was at work.  Mysterious things begin happening to her in and around the house, mysterious phone calls (no one is there), things disappear and reappear in strange places,  her shampoo has red dye in it and turns her hair pink.  But other than the fact that her cat, Julep, is always looking at the chandelier in the living room, she sees nothing unusual.  

All these thing take Lily and Vaz into a mysterious adventure involving a lost treasure, a fake medium, and all those ghosts, who are of various size, shape, and disposition.  The ghosts were a jelly belly man and his wife who were killed on their way to the beach 23 years ago, a girl of 13 years who drowned in a wool dress and pantaloons in 1909, A Lenape Indian who died in a skirmish with Dutch Settlers in 1644, Lola, a burgeoning actress who was found dead on the stage of her high school, The Human Candle (who we later find out is Uncle Max), and a pirate who really wasn't a ghost.

This book was a good find in the library where I work.  I was looking for books to fill my summer reading while off from teaching when I came across this cute little book.  I have since suggested it to many young girls to read and they also loved it.  It has just enough suspense to make it exciting and enough romance to make it interesting.  Pick up a book and look at the cover.  Don't judge the contents by the cover, just turn it over and look and what it contains.  You can always put it down if it doesn't grab you quickly.