A Gust of Ghosts

Gr 3–6—Nine-year-old Poppy Malone is beleaguered from the beyond in this sequel to A Gaggle of Goblins (HarperCollins, 2011). Fooled by a group of ghosts into freeing these creatures from the confines of a cemetery, Poppy, her siblings, and a friend must find a way to return them to their resting place before they wreak complete havoc on the Malone home. However, before they are spirited away, Poppy must also manage to get evidence of the ghosts to help her parents keep a grant to support their research of otherworldly events. This is a fairly entertaining read, with the best scenes belonging to the kids. The adults are annoying, and not in that humorous, grown-ups-are-so-weird way. Harper seems to handle her younger characters better, which is fine, since her audience will be more interested in them anyway. The book is a little slow to rev up, but once the plot is on the move, readers will laugh at the antics of the ghosts and cheer on Poppy's plan to rein them in.—Alyson Low, Fayetteville Public Library, AR