Riley's Ghost by John David Anderson

 
Riley's Ghost by John David Anderson
My Rating: ★

I received a copy from HarperCollins Children's Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ditched by her best friend, Emily, Riley Flynn is a lonely middle schooler who is bullied by the cool kids at school. When Riley gets targeted in science, it quickly goes south, leading her to face off with Emily and her new friends. Just when her day can’t get any worse, Riley finds herself locked in the science closet and left in the hands of the ghosts of her middle school.

We follow Riley, a lonely girl who goes back and forth between battling her hot temper and facing off with the kids who target her at school. I think the book perfectly captures how horrible middle school can be, especially when you don’t fit in with part or most of your peers. Everyone wants to be different, but those who are different get singled out, and that’s where Riley finds herself.

Locked in the science closet, Riley finds herself at the hands of the school ghosts. She meets Max, a ghost possessing one of the frogs being dissected in class, who just wants to escape the school. If he helps Riley, then she can help him finally be free of the hold the school has on him. The only problem is that the school is full of the ghosts who were once the bullies in Max’s class, and they’re all facing off against one ghost: Heather.

I think this book has an interesting concept, but we spent so much time bouncing around Riley’s memories leading up to the present that it honestly seemed like we were going to find out that Riley was a ghost all along. It would’ve been great if it turned out that Riley was Heather, and that she had no idea that she had been dead for many years, but that wasn’t the case. 

It also seems like the overall message is to forgive your bullies rather than holding onto all the hurt they caused. While that’s a nice sentiment, we see the process jump from A to Z by the time the book is over. I just wish that we got to see more of the process of healing for Riley to get to the point of being willing to forgive and let it all slide. We see that process begin for her, but the process is expedited once she learns what happened among the ghosts and that’s not a realistic example for readers who are currently being bullied.

Overall, I think this is an interesting concept, but I’m not sure about the message for readers. This turned out to not be my cup of tea, but I think young readers who enjoy ghost stories will likely enjoy it.