Ghost Town

Hoping to discourage her parents from moving out of dilapidated seaside Crater, fifth grader Lily Cole purposefully fails her science final and jeopardizes her scholarship for her future middle school. Instead of calling off the move, Lily’s parents ground her and force her to work part-time at the library, a stipulation meant to keep her scholarship. But Lily would rather spend the summer playing baseball with her friends, and she sneaks out to meet them at the diamond, where she hits a home run—right into an abandoned house. Upon Lily and her friends’ entering the home, crackling pink energy explodes from a skeleton, coating them in goopy residue. It becomes clear to the gang that Crater is haunted by ghosts; luckily for them, the house has everything they need to hunt them down. At the same time, Lily uses resources from her library gig to research the history behind the residence, Crater, and the mysterious entity responsible for turning her beloved hometown into a giant ghost trap. Cartoony illustrations with exaggerated facial expressions by Colossal (Rutabaga the Adventure Chef) pair with goofy paranormal plotting in this delightful graphic novel, a Goosebumps meets Ghostbusters adventure. Ages 9–12. (Mar.)