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Not Quite a Ghost

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

Named one of the Best Books of 2024 by the Chicago Public Library, New York Public Library, and NPR!

From the award-winning author of The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy comes an unforgettable and deeply personal story of the ghosts that surround us—and the ones we carry inside.

The house seemed to sit apart from the others on Katydid Street, silent and alone, like it didn't fit among them. For Violet Hart—whose family is about to move into the house on Katydid Street—very little felt like it fit anymore. Like their old home, suddenly too small since her mother remarried and the new baby arrived. Or Violet's group of friends, which, since they started middle school, isn't enough for Violet's best friend, Paige. Everything seemed to be changing at once. But sometimes, Violet tells herself, change is okay.

That is, until Violet sees her new room. The attic bedroom in their new house is shadowy, creaky, and wrapped in old yellow wallpaper covered with a faded tangle of twisting vines and sickly flowers. And then, after moving in, Violet falls ill—and does not get better. As days turn into weeks without any improvement, her family growing more confused and her friends wondering if she's really sick at all, she finds herself spending more time alone in the room with the yellow wallpaper, the shadows moving in the corners, wrapping themselves around her at night.

And soon, Violet starts to suspect that she might not be alone in the room at all.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      October 16, 2023
      Sandwiched between moody older sister Mia and three-year-old half brother Owen, Minneapolis sixth grader and middle child Violet Hart feels as if she’s the one who’s supposed to “make things easy” on her mother and stepfather, resulting in her reluctantly agreeing to take the disconcerting, wallpapered attic bedroom in the family’s new home. At school, Violet’s besties Paige and Ally are determined to expand their friend group now that they’re in middle school, but a sleepover with potential new recruits goes disastrously awry, leading to a mysterious sickness that Violet can’t shake. While enduring unrelenting exhaustion, the 11-year-old struggles to balance schoolwork and shifting friendship dynamics, as well as nightmares brought on by her bedroom’s disturbingly illogical wallpaper. Upon Violet discovering a haven in the school library with Will, a bespectacled boy researching ghosts, she wonders if there’s something sinister in her home. Inspired by Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” as addressed in an author’s note, Ursu (The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy) perceptively incorporates middle school drama into a page-turning tale about the difficulties of managing an invisible illness and any accompanying skepticism from friends and healthcare providers. Violet is white; there is racial diversity among the supporting cast. Ages 8–12. Agent: Tina Dubois, CAA.

    • Kirkus

      November 1, 2023
      This novel set in Minneapolis combines the stress of changes with a haunting. Eleven-year-old Violet is about to enter middle school. If that wasn't anxiety-inducing enough, her mom and stepdad announce that they will be moving. To Violet's relief, she'll still be in the same school district with her two best friends. The move to a larger if decrepit Victorian means that Violet and Mia, her older sister, won't be sharing a room anymore, something Violet has mixed feelings about. Her new attic room is private, but the ugly wallpaper in a mustard-and-green vine-filled pattern is decidedly creepy. Soon after starting school, Violet begins to have nightmares about the wallpaper coming to life, and she starts to feel weak and tired. Doctors can find nothing wrong, and her best friends become skeptical, implying it's all in her head. Meanwhile, Violet tries to navigate the strains of middle school--fitting in and changing friendships--with the ever-increasing menace of the haunted attic and its link, presented possibly as a metaphor, to her chronic illness. This storyline works pretty well, addressing the experience of invisible disabilities, which are too rarely represented in middle-grade fiction, but some readers may wish for the connection between Violet's illness and the ghost to feature a clearer resolution. Violet and her mom are white; Violet's stepfather is Black, and other characters bring diversity in race and sexual orientation. An ambitious presentation exploring resonant themes. (author's note) (Paranormal. 8-12)

      COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Booklist

      December 1, 2023
      Grades 4-6 Ursu serves up a chilling, middle-grade tweak on Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper." Violet's anxiety is kicked into high gear after starting middle school and moving into an old Victorian fixer-upper, all in the same week. She barely sees her two best friends now, and they no longer seem like the people she knew in elementary school. It's an isolating feeling that's exacerbated when Violet catches a virus she can't seem to shake, which leaves her suffering from extreme exhaustion and spending more time than she'd like in her creepy new attic bedroom, whose yellowed, vine-patterned wallpaper starts to reveal something sinister within its tangled pattern. Ursu cultivates dread on several fronts as Violet battles insecurities and the dark presence in her room, is beset by her mysterious illness's symptoms, and navigates middle school's bewildering social landscape. Less a haunted-house story than an empathetic examination of one girl's fight to regain normalcy, the narrative validates the reality of the unseen. A heartfelt author's note discusses frustrations that can come from having an invisible illness.

      COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      In this middle-grade story, undoubtedly inspired by the early feminist story titled "The Yellow Wallpaper" (1892), Eva Kaminsky depicts Violet, an easygoing preteen who's only slightly uncomfortable about moving into the strange attic bedroom of her family's new home. Change is everywhere for Violet--in her family, her new school, and her friends. Kaminsky reflects the uncertainty that creeps into Violet's voice when she witnesses her two best friends' cruelty at a sleepover. When she becomes ill, her fixation on the scary yellow wallpaper in her room is convincing. Her fear becomes palpable as her weakness and fatigue intensify, as do the listener's compassion for her and disgust with those who discount her experiences. Eventually, Violet takes on a ghost-like figure, terrifyingly rendered by Kaminsky. S.W. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
    • School Library Journal

      Starred review from January 12, 2024

      Gr 4-8-Violet's new house has the space her growing family needs, but as soon as they move in, the house feels odd and lonely. Violet's older sister Mia declares the attic room with the peeling yellow wallpaper to be "creepy," so by default, that room becomes Violet's. Violet is dealing with a lot of personal issues, including nervously starting middle school, and it doesn't help when she gets sick the first week of school. When she's finally able to return, she's too tired for PE class, so she's sent to study in the library. There she meets a boy named Will who regularly sits out PE due to health reasons. He's researching ghosts and hauntings for a science credit, which Violet finds fascinating. She wants to help her new friend with his project, but her illness returns and she isn't getting better. Visits to multiple doctors lead nowhere, and she ends up homebound in her attic room. The vines on the yellow wallpaper seem to be moving now, and she thinks she sees the shape of a girl trapped beneath them. She's terrified, both of the girl, and her mysterious illness. Loosely based on Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 1892 short story "The Yellow Wallpaper," this is a story about a haunted house-but it's also a fresh, modern look at unexplained health issues, COVID-19 anxiety, changing friendships, and blended families. VERDICT Compulsively readable and relatable, Ursu's twisty middle grade novel is highly recommended.-Mandy Laferriere

      Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • The Horn Book

      Starred review from January 1, 2024
      The transition to middle school is often a time of tumult, with the upheaval of old elementary school routines and friendships. But for eleven-year-old Violet Hart, the changes are even more far-reaching. Her blended family has just moved into a long-empty, ramshackle house, and her new bedroom is a creepy third-floor attic, wallpapered with twisting vines. After an upsetting sleepover with both old and potential new friends, Vi retires to her room feeling ill. She rides out her virus (she tests negative for COVID-19 and mono) but continues to be plagued by lingering exhaustion and brain fog. Her parents are proactive, but multiple doctors can't find anything physically wrong and suggest that she is merely seeking attention or is in need of mental health counseling. Vivid nightmares, complete with tendrils from the wallpaper slithering down the wall and across the room, slow her recovery, demanding her attention. Ursu (The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy, rev. 9/21) maintains a light but decidedly eerie touch as she weaves her "not quite a ghost" story, in which the house itself becomes a character and slowly reveals its secrets. She simultaneously writes in a compelling way about difficult-to-diagnose, recurring illnesses. And just as with such conditions, there is no neat and facile wrap-up to the haunting narrative. Luann Toth

      (Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

    • The Horn Book

      January 1, 2024
      The transition to middle school is often a time of tumult, with the upheaval of old elementary school routines and friendships. But for eleven-year-old Violet Hart, the changes are even more far-reaching. Her blended family has just moved into a long-empty, ramshackle house, and her new bedroom is a creepy third-floor attic, wallpapered with twisting vines. After an upsetting sleepover with both old and potential new friends, Vi retires to her room feeling ill. She rides out her virus (she tests negative for COVID-19 and mono) but continues to be plagued by lingering exhaustion and brain fog. Her parents are proactive, but multiple doctors can't find anything physically wrong and suggest that she is merely seeking attention or is in need of mental health counseling. Vivid nightmares, complete with tendrils from the wallpaper slithering down the wall and across the room, slow her recovery, demanding her attention. Ursu (The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy, rev. 9/21) maintains a light but decidedly eerie touch as she weaves her "not quite a ghost" story, in which the house itself becomes a character and slowly reveals its secrets. She simultaneously writes in a compelling way about difficult-to-diagnose, recurring illnesses. And just as with such conditions, there is no neat and facile wrap-up to the haunting narrative.

      (Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

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