ALL THE LOVELY BAD ONES
Travis, nearly 13, and his sister, Corey, who’s a year younger, enjoy a good prank or 10. Having been banned from camp for all the pranks they pulled last year, they’ll spend this summer at their grandmother’s Vermont inn. After learning about the inn’s haunted reputation, the siblings decide they’ve found the perfect outlet for their mischief: pretending to be the ghosts that have gone quiet since their grandmother took over. While they play at haunting the inn’s guests, Travis can’t help feeling ill at ease as he catches glimpses of something in his peripheral vision while wandering the inn grounds. The “hauntings” bring plenty of attention from the living. But when a staff member experiences a presence that has nothing to do with the siblings’ fun, they must confront the inn’s troubled history and try to lay its ghosts to rest. This examination of how children can do bad things without being bad at heart and how adults can wield their power over the young will resonate with readers. The illustrations are captivating. Light and shadow are used to great effect to depict the sun-dappled forest and a chilling grove of trees. Characters’ faces are emotive, and the ghosts are spooky and sinister. Sepia tones are effectively used to portray past events. Travis and Corey are tan-skinned; most characters are light-skinned.
