Reviews: Ghostly Graphic Novels!

Sheets by Brenna Thummler (out now!):

CW: Death of a parent (past), discussion of child death (past)

Sheets tells the story of Marjorie, a 13-year-old who has to deal with way too much for her age, and Wendell, a ghost boy who doesn’t feel like he quote fits in in his ghost world. Marjorie deals with feeling invisible and alone, and Wendall is actually invisible (besides his sheet) while also feeling alone. Their friendship starts out rocky, but is lovely! This story is sweet and a little sad, but ultimately satisfying, and it definitely sets up other books! I would be interested to read the others in the series to learn more about Wendell’s history. The illustrations weren’t my favorite (which is completely subjective) but this is definitely a graphic novel I want for my classroom.

Ghost Book by Remi Lai (out 8/15):

CW: death of a parent (past), lots of discussion about death in general

Out of the three today, I think this one has the most unique storyline. The synopsis opening says, “Twelve years ago, the boy and the girl lived. But one was supposed to die.” This hooked me automatically! The boy and the girl are William and Julie, respectively. Julie is able to see ghosts, even though her father adamantly denies their existence. William is not actually a ghost, but a wandering soul who Julie is determined to save from the Hungry Ghosts (they are as creepy as they sound). It is inspired by Chinese mythology and I loved the emotion and humor running through the story. I truly did not know how it was going to end, but I was so pleased by the ending!

All the Lovely Bad Ones by Mary Downing Hahn and adapted by Scott Peterson, Naomi Franquiz, and Brittany Peer (out 8/15):

CW: Neglect/death of children (past), talk of suicide (past), but somewhat depicted in the art (reach out if you want more info!)

I really liked this one! It was entertaining, at times creepy and sad, and I loved the art style. This graphic novel is based on the book by Mary Downing Hahn, which I honestly probably won’t read because I enjoyed the graphic novel! Corey and Travis, the main characters and siblings, visit their grandmother’s purportedly haunted B&B and decide to fake some ghostly occurrences to help her with business! Unfortunately, spirits are awakened which shouldn’t have been, and the siblings now have a lot to fix.

In order to help the spirits in the present, Corey and Travis have to investigate and learn about what happened at the house in the past, and this was an aspect that I loved. There is one Big Bad spirit who is CREEPY that the siblings have to contend with as they try to help the spirits of children connected to the house find peace. Corey and Travis start out as merry pranksters but really come into their own as they try to help the spirits they have awakened. One of the only issues for me is that there is a lot of talk about how the siblings “awakened” these sleeping spirits…but it wasn’t really clear (to me at least) how they did that.