Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Ivy and Ben and the Ghost that had to go
Illustrator: Sophie Blackall
Fiction Series
For ages 6 to 9
Chronicle, 2006 ISBN: 978-0811849104
Ivy and Bean are in the school yard with the other members of the Gymnastics Club. It is recess and the members of the club are showing off their cartwheels and other gymnastic feats. Ivy finds herself in need of a distraction and being a clever and imaginative girl she finds the perfect thing: Ivy sees a ghost in front of the girl’s bathroom. Every time someone walks through the ghost they are seen to rub their arms as if they are cold.
Now this is the kind of thing that anyone would find hard to keep to him or herself and Ivy soon tells Bean, her best friend all about it. Naturally the word spreads and soon everyone in Ms. Aruba-Tate’s second-grade class knows about the ghost and the porthole to the underworld which lies right outside the bathroom door. Most of the children in the class are just excited by this interesting development by Zuzu is afraid and before anyone can stop her she tells Ms. Aruba-Tate all about the ghost.
Ms Aruba-Tate insists that there is no ghost and not wanting to get into further trouble Ivy and Bean decide that they are going to have to expel the ghost and send it back to where it came from.
Children will love the way in which Ivy produces the ghost just when she needs it. Better still they will be delighted to read about the potion and the chant that the two best friends create to get the ghost to go away. There can be no doubt that these two girls are well endowed with wonderful imaginations and their adventures are richly and amusingly entertaining.
