Ghosts: A Graphic Novel

This is a lush story! Cat and her family move somewhere new to help her little sister’s health and when she gets there, all they talk about is ghosts. Cat is terrified, but with the help of the people around her she warms to the idea. Loved the colour and life in this! I really appreciated the talk and representation of Maya’s illness in this too.

Ghosts is the story of sisters Maya and Catrina (Cat) as their family moves to the Northern California town of Bahía de la Luna. The move is spurred not only by their father's new job, but also because of Maya's health. She has cystic fibrosis, and the salty air that blows in from the se might benefit her. The sisters soon discover that the coastal city is host to a large population of ghosts, however, and the story is informed by their individual reactions to this revelation. This was a bit of a bittersweet read for me as this was the first of Raina Telgemeier's books that I didn't just completely and utterly loved. Don't get me wrong, I still liked it well enough. Like the rest of Telgemeier's work, it's a charming read, full of lovely and relatable characters, and it's bursting with gorgeous, gorgeous artwork. And it's the art that I found most engaging. This is, I believe, Telgemeier's strongest book in terms of artwork. Given that this story deals with the Day of the Dead, this shouldn't come as much of a surprise, seeing as how that culture is such a veritable wellspring of visual inspiration. Setting is something in which Telgemeier excels at, and Bahía de la Luna (based on actual Northern California town Half Moon Bay) is her most realized and beautiful one yet, full of detail and character and atmosphere. She is helped in this with colors by Braden Lamb, who delivers with a palette that is somehow both morose and yet upbeat. Which is, again, appropriate for a story dealing with the Day of the Dead. I don't celebrate Día de Muertos, so I can't judge whether or not Telgemeier did an admirable job representing the holiday, although the back matter of the book mentions all the research material that Telgemeier went through while producing the book. It also talks about the research done into properly representing cystic fibrosis, something which I believe she did accurately and respectfully. This aspect of the story, however, informs the main issue I had with it, which is Maya's characterization. Maya begins the story as a great character, quirky and optimistic and full of life. But she very quickly pushed to the sidelines of the story, straight into tropey territory, and spends the latter half of the book mostly as a source of motivation and inspiration for her sister. It's a decision that rubbed me the wrong way, and left me thinking that maybe the story should have been her to tell all along, and it's Cat who acts as the supporting character. Middle grade and young adult novels are full of differently abled characters whose stories are told by their able-bodied peers, and this is something that we should work harder to change. That issue aside, I did love how all the elements of the story tied into the theme of breath: ghosts cannot talk unless they are given breath by a living person (usually in the form of a kis...

I loved it! I Found it interesting and now I want to meet a ghost!!!👼 me and my rabbit rate it 5555555555 million stats!

I bought this book for my 8 year old daughter after hearing the author discuss it on NPR. I pre-ordered it not knowing much other than it was a child's graphic novel about Dia de Las Muertos. (I hope i got that right!) My daughter is a huge fan of the Far Out Fairy Tale series of graphic novels. When I received this in the mail, I was shocked at how large it was! It's the size of a small novel. My daughter isn't the biggest fan of reading, but this book got her reading before school, without being asked to. She finished it in 3 days! I am thankful I heard the author talking about this book, and I will be looking into more books like it.

I didn't buy this for my kids, I just bought it for myself. I gulped this book down in one quick sitting, and it was a wonderful reading experience. The illustrations are beautiful and the story is warm and engaging. Great reading for kids and adults alike.