Zee Puckett loves ghost stories. She just never expected to be living one.
It all starts with a dark and stormy night. When the skies clear, everything is different. People are missing. There’s a creepy new principal who seems to know everyone’s darkest dreams. And Zee is seeing frightening things: large, scary dogs that talk and maybe even . . . a ghost.
When she tells her classmates, only her best friend Elijah believes her. Worse, mean girl Nellie gives Zee a cruel nickname: Ghost Girl.
But whatever the storm washed up isn’t going away. Everyone’s most selfish wishes start coming true in creepy ways.
To fight for what’s right, Zee will have to embrace what makes her different and what makes her Ghost Girl. And all three of them—Zee, Elijah, and Nellie—will have to work together if they want to give their ghost story a happy ending.
Something I’ve really been wanting to do, particularly in the middle grade horror space, is focus a lot on reading sequels, or continuing on with a series, or exploring more of some favorite author’s respective backlists. So that’s something that should be happening here over the next few weeks/months!
I didn’t necessarily plan to read all three of Ally Malinenko’s middle grade horror novels in reverse publishing order (my reading rarely falls under any sort of “plan” if we’re being honest), but that’s how it happened.
I cannot overstate how amazing I think BROKEN DOLLS and THIS APPEARING HOUSE are, for real. Those are two of the very best middle grade horror novels I’ve read so far, and they both epitomize everything I love about the genre.
So it’s very cool to go backwards a little here with Malinenko’s debut, GHOST GIRL! This was, unsurprisingly, fantastic!
Our main character is eleven-year-old Zera Puckett, better (read: ALWAYS) known as Zee. Zee has a shock of bone-white hair, an obsession with telling ghost stories, and a love of anything dark & spooky.
The story is set in Knobb’s Ferry, which is implied to be just south of Sleepy Hollow. Zee lives at home with her older sister Abby. There’s a relatively big age gap between them, I think Abby is 21. Zee’s mother sadly passed away when Zee was a baby, and the girls’ father has been away for awhile searching for work.
Zee keeps her circle of friends…extremely close. Which is to say she just has Elijah, her best & only friend. These two are definitely a bit on the outside looking in when it comes to their social lives at school, but they have a great friendship.
Zee is unfortunately the frequent target of bullies at school, most notably Nellie, the popular girl who gives Zee the Ghost Girl nickname that she HATES.
But after a huge storm rolls through town, strange things begin to happen. Zee keeps seeing these massive, terrifying dogs around town. And the new school principal…there’s something super weird about this guy and his insistence on knowing everyone in town’s darkest dreams. Events conspire to bring Zee, Elijah, and Nellie together to figure out what is going on in town. Everyone is acting VERY strange, and it’s up to these kids to figure out why.
I’ll go on record and say that I think Ally Malinenko writes the scariest middle grade horror novels! And GHOST GIRL is no exception. I feel like in each of her books, there’s at least one scene (but usually more) that’ll have you pulling up your phone’s flashlight when you have to leave your bedroom in the middle of the night (it me).
As she does in her other two books, Malinenko tackles some really heavy themes with an incredible amount of sensitivity. Zee lives with an enormous amount of grief about her Mom, and a lot of anxiety about when her Dad might return home. And then of course there’s the bullying. Things are stressful for Abby & Zee, but they try to make it all work the best they can.
Something else to be aware of reading this is that Elijah faces a not-so-subtle amount of body shaming by his father, which was so heartbreaking and difficult to read. Additionally, Elijah’s mother is struggling with a mental illness that keeps her in bed & quiet a lot of the time, and this weighs so heavily on him.
So these kids are really dealing with a lot, even before you factor in all the new supernatural mysteries impacting the town. It’s lucky Zee & Elijah (and ultimately Nellie) have each other, as the power of their friendship will be what helps them the most.
I’m so glad to have read this! I really think Ally Malinenko is one of the very best middle grade horror authors, period. I’ve loved all three of her books & I can’t wait to see what’s next from her!
