Ghostgirl by Tonya Hurley***328 Pages

Ghostgirl by Tonya Hurley is a story about a girl, Charlotte Usher, who has trouble fitting in but is eager to be a part of the popular crowd. She would die for popularity, and she does. After being paired up with the most popular boy in school for class, she chokes on a gummy bear. With no one around, she tragically passes on. However, in her afterlife, she becomes a ghost and must attend Dead Ed – a school for kids who have died. The goal of Dead Ed is to make sure the kids accept their death. Only then will they really be at rest. The kids must also work together to save their ghost home, an old house on the market and ready for demolition. However, Charlotte is too preoccupied with using her new powers to become “alive” again to pay attention to the class. To become “alive," she can transport herself into others, controlling the person she has taken over. By doing this she can communicate with others as if she was still living. The kids at Dead Ed have just about had it with Charlotte. Her lack of understanding the importance of saving the house irritates them. Oddly enough, the most popular girl, Petula, has a younger sister, Scarlet, who can see Charlotte. Charlotte uses Scarlet’s body to carry out her plan to fix her mistakes. Why not host the dance in the house so people can really see how cool the house is? Maybe it will be saved. Prue, the meanest girl at Dead Ed, is jealous that Charlotte is able to do this. Most of the kids in the living world and Dead Ed seem to think hosting the party in the house is a really good idea. Charlotte thinks that to accept her death, she must finish what she started, which was to kiss the popular boy, Damen, at the dance. Although Scarlet is a little reluctant to let Charlotte use her body to do that, it is Charlotte’s only hope.

When the dance begins, everyone is excited. The living kids are having an awesome time, marveling at the spooky house. The Dead Ed kids are happy because they get to make the house even scarier with their powers. Minutes before midnight, Charlotte is dancing with Damen, ecstatic that she is getting her opportunity to kiss him. Unfortunately, Prue becomes angry when she sees Scarlet’s ghostly figure wandering around, realizing that Charlotte is in Scarlet’s body. When Damen is about to kiss Charlotte, Charlotte must transport out of Scarlet’s body and let Scarlet have the kiss. Charlotte didn’t want Prue to hurt Scarlet. Prue thought Charlotte got the kiss, and began to tear the house apart. Walls were shaking, and the Dead Ed kids became visible. At first, the living kids thought everything was a special effect. When they realized it wasn’t, they were scared and afraid. After an all-out battle, Charlotte admitted it was not she who kissed Damen. Prue was shocked that Charlotte would have been so selfless. By doing so, Charlotte had accomplished what she was meant to do. She accepted her death. Prue and Scarlet apologized to each other. With Scarlet and Damen watching, the Dead Ed kids graduated and moved on to be at peace. I would recommend this book to middle school girls. The novel was a little weird because you couldn’t relate to the ghosts. I couldn’t tell how important it was to save the house, and the whole thought of it was creepy. However, the novel was an interesting because it was something different. I would give it three stars for a good story and funny characters.

Alana F. Period 3