Riley’s Ghost by John David Anderson - OPTIONAL

Riley’s Ghost by John David Anderson, 384 pages. Walden Pond Press, 2023. $10 (paper)

Language: G (0 swears,  0 “f”); Mature Content: G; Violence: G (some scares)

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - OPTIONAL

APPEALS TO: SOME

Riley and Emily aren’t friends anymore, but did Emily have to conspire with her new “cool” friends to look her into the science closet and leave her? Stuck in the school overnight, with no way out (the doors and windows won’t open and won’t break; phones are dead), Riley realizes that she is not alone. A mysterious presence has occupied a frog cadaver and they are not the only ghostly presence.  Riley must confront the ghosts and the ghosts of her own making before she can find a way out.

Anderson tries to weave a multi-dimensional plot into his story, but spends about 150 too many pages doing it. I am all for a more tightly plotted book.

Cindy, Middle School Librarian, MLS