Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Ghostgirl Audio
Fiction
For ages 14 and up
Unabridged audiobook (CD)
Performed/read by: Parker Posey
Recorded Books, 2009 ISBN: 978-1440730900
Charlotte Usher has spent much of her summer reinventing herself. This year she wants to be popular, admired, and she wants to attract the attention of Damen, the boy she has adored from afar for months. Charlotte has her first day back in school carefully planned, but alas things start to go wrong from the very beginning. Then, quite unexpectedly, things start to go right. Damen is appointed her lab partner and Charlotte is in a state of delighted euphoria. Her time has come. Only it hasn’t, because Charlotte chokes on a gummy bear and dies.
Charlotte’s living life is now over, and her ‘life’ as a dead teen has begun. Charlotte discovers that she is one of many teens who have to go through a process, an education if you will, before they can leave the living world behind forever and more on to whatever comes after. She and the other dead teens she meets have unfinished business to resolve, and they also have to work together for the common good of all of them. They have to save the house that they live in, a house that could be sold, or even demolished.
Unfortunately, Charlotte does not take to being dead very well. She is obsessed with Damen, and she still wants to find a way to get close to him. She convinces herself that having the midnight kiss with Damen on the night of the big school dance is her ‘unfinished business,’ and like a bulldozer that is out of control, she sets about trying to achieve this ultimate goal.
With touches of romance, ghoulish doings, and understated but meaningful messages, this is a story that will entertain, and it will also give listeners pause for thought. Posey Parker’s narrative is fresh and a joy to listen to.
