Ophie’s Ghosts

Ophie’s Ghosts by Justina Ireland, 2021

Recommended for grades 4-8; ghost story, historical fiction

Brief Review:

It’s 1922 and twelve-year-old Ophelia Harrison (otherwise known as Ophie) has just lost her father in a lynching. Since this traumatic event, Ophie has begun seeing ghosts. She and her mother move to Pittsburgh and start working as servants for rich, grumpy Mrs. Caruthers and her son Richard. Ophie quickly befriends Clara, a beautiful and sophisticated ghost who had been the previous maid. Ophie’s great aunt Rose warns her that ghosts are dangerous and that she shouldn’t interact with them, but Ophie has decided that it’s her responsibility to help ghosts pass on. She especially wants to help Clara, not only because of their bond, but also because she realizes that Clara has been murdered due to a forbidden romance. But she underestimates just how powerful and dangerous Clara really is. Although this book is somewhat less scary than some middle-grade ghost stories, such as those by Mary Downing Hahn and Dan Poblocki, it will have a strong appeal for any middle-grade readers with an affinity for suspenseful, spooky stories. Other appeal factors include the vivid, atmospheric description of the historical Pittsburgh setting, the focus on African American history, and Ophelia’s likable personality. Recommended for most readers within the middle-grade age range and all fans of the historical ghost story sub-genre.

Long Review:

It’s 1922 and twelve-year-old Ophelia Harrison’s life has completely changed. After her father is lynched and their home Georgia is burned, Ophelia (otherwise known as Ophie) and her mother move in with relatives in Pittsburgh. They’re trying to save up enough money to get their own place, which means that Ophie has to quit school and go to work. She and her mother are household servants at Daffodil Manor. Ophie’s job is to wait on elderly Mrs. Caruthers, who is irritable, demanding, and racist. Although the house has a long history, she and her son Richard are the only current residents other than hired help and ghosts.

Ever since her father’s sudden death, Ophie can see ghosts. She encounters them in the streets, on the trolley going to work, and even right outside of her family’s own home, but she’s never tried to communicate with them or gotten to know any of them until she arrives at Daffodil Manor. There, she meets a variety of ghosts including a colored boy named Colin and a beautiful young lady named Clara. (Although it will be immediately clear to most readers, Ophie doesn’t initially realize that Clara is a ghost and assumes she’s there visiting Richard) Although Clara is well-dressed and sophisticated, Ophie learns that she had also been a maid until she suddenly disappeared. The other household staff are puzzled by Ophie’s questions and tell her that Clara left suddenly and they don’t know exactly why.

Ophie later learns from her great aunt Rose that many of the women in her family can see “haints”. Aunt Rose warns Ophie that ghosts are very dangerous and that she should ignore them. She also promises that she and another relative will someday give Ophie more information and instructions about how to communicate with ghosts and protect herself from them. But Ophie has come to the conclusion that it’s her job to help the ghosts pass on. In particular, she is determined to help Clara. Not only is she especially fond of Clara, but she’s convinced that Clara was murdered. Inspired by romance stories and detective stories she’s read in magazines, Ophie decides to solve Clara’s tragic mystery. Although Ophie is correct that Clara was brutally murdered due to a forbidden romance, she doesn’t realize just how much power Clara has and how she intends to use it.

Although this book is somewhat less scary than some middle-grade ghost stories, such as those by Mary Downing Hahn and Dan Poblocki, it will have a strong appeal for any middle-grade readers with an affinity for suspenseful, spooky stories. The ghostly vibe is bolstered by occasional interludes from the perspective of non-human “characters”, such as the house or the trolley car. Besides that appeal factor, this book also has significant literary and educational value as a work of historical fiction. The time period is one that tends to be underrepresented in children’s literature, and the historical Pittsburgh setting is described in vivid, atmospheric detail. Besides that, there’s a strong focus on African American history, including references to slavery and the Civil War in addition to the racial and social circumstances that Ophie experiences first-hand. Skillful writing and likable characters tie all these other positive factors together into an engaging and appealing story that is well worth recommending to most readers within the middle-grade age range.

More 2021 Picture Books

The Fabulous Tale of Fish & Chips by Helaine Becker, illustrated by Omar Hoffmann

This title has not yet been released. Estimated publication date is October 30.

According to the author’s note at the end, Joseph Malin opened the first fish and chips shop in London in 1860. That much is known to be true, but this fun picture book speculates about the sequence of events that inspired this food combination. After all, the fried fish was a traditional Jewish Sabbath dish while chips (aka French fries) were evidently first made by the French and Belgians. In Becker’s hypothesized version of the story, Joseph Malin’s family began selling fried fish first, which was such a popular product that their neighbor Annette, who ran a vegetable stall, lost business. In order to make her produce more marketable, she began selling her fried potatoes. The famous English meal of fish and chips was invented when Joseph and Annette bumped into each other, blending their merchandise into a single, “crispy, tasty dish!” The details are of course fabricated, but the historical and cultural details make this book educational nonetheless. The two-dimensional yet detailed artwork is reminiscent of Richard Scarry, but with human characters and a historical London setting. Recommended for first and second graders, but with appeal factors for older readers, too.

Biscuit and the Little Llamas by Alyssa Satin Capucilli, illustrated by Rose Mary Berlin

In this newest title in the ongoing Biscuit early reader series, Biscuit the yellow puppy and his girl go to visit a farm in the springtime. The girl is excited to see all the different animals, but Biscuit just seems interested in pulling on a rope. At the other end of that rope is one particular animal that Biscuit particularly wants to befriend: a llama. (A second llama shows up later in the book) The short, simple sentences with mostly single-syllable words make this a pretty easy book for young readers to handle, especially since the text is fairly repetitive. The animal theme and the pastel-toned illustrations full of cute animals will appeal to a wide audience.

Milo Imagines the World by Matt de la Pena, illustrated by Christian Robinson

The author and illustrator of the multi-award winning 2015 picture book Last Stop on Market Street have teamed up again for a new, stylistically similar book about a boy who spends a subway ride drawing pictures based on his fellow passengers. He imagines one passenger’s home as a “cluttered apartment” full of “mewling cats and burrowing rats”, then he depicts another boy’s home as a castle. There’s a woman in a wedding dress on the train, so he draws a scene from her wedding and a hot air balloon carrying the couple to their honeymoon. After a few more pictures and a little bit of dialogue with his sister, Milo arrives at his destination: the prison where his mom is incarcerated. Based on the amount of text and the vocabulary choice, (which includes words like “tepid”, “gourmet”, and “infinite”) this book is best suited for elementary-school-aged readers. The simple, two-dimensional, collage-style illustrations leave a little something to be desired. However, this book is well worth reading because of the innovative way in which it presents the trite theme of imagination, framing it within a real-world context, and for the engaging storytelling which leads up to the message that “you can’t really know anyone just by looking at their face”.

Off to See the Sea by Nikki Grimes, illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon

This imaginative bathtime picture book comes from the same author and illustrator who gave us Bedtime for Sweet Creatures last year and seems to feature the same protagonists. As the mother gives her child a bath, the third-person narrative voice describes the experience as an aquatic adventure. The running faucet is depicted as a waterfall, the bath itself is a sea, and the yellow rubber ducky is a monster. The toy tugboats, of course, become real boats, and the wet bathroom floor is the “distant shore”. Zunon’s illustrations are colorful multi-media collages with realistic human faces, which will be visually appealing for all ages toddlers and up. Between the imagination-based theme and the normal, everyday setting, this book will likely become a favorite frequent read-aloud for many families. 

The Rock from the Sky by Jon Klassen

This is the kind of book that could be classified either as a picture book or an early reader; although it’s 96 pages and is divided into five chapters, its dimensions are more characteristic of a traditional picture book and the text is pretty brief. The story features a turtle who is particularly fond of his favorite spot, an armadillo who has a bad feeling about said spot, a snake who is happy to join the armadillo in his new spot, and a giant rock that falls from the sky just as Turtle gives in and finally leaves his spot so that he’s close enough to talk to Armadillo. Young readers will be amused by Turtle’s close escape and his apparent obliviousness. As with many of Klassen’s books, the only drawback to this simple and silly story is the uninteresting color palette. The illustrations are mostly brown and gray and feature small, two-dimensional characters against a pretty much featureless background. Share this book with the beginning reader who cares more about the story than the pictures. 

Trinity for Tots by Mary J. Moerbe, illustrated by Jamie Truwe and Naomi Truwe

Unlike most of the other books that I review for this blog, Trinity for Tots is not one that I decided I needed to read because of starred reviews or because I got my hands on an advance reader’s copy or even because I happened to see it in the library. I actually first heard about it in a Facebook group and noticed that it was endorsed by some pastors whose names I recognized. While this certainly isn’t a mainstream book that’s likely to show up in many bookstores or public libraries, I was interested because it can be hard to find good Christian books for kids, especially books that touch upon actual Christian teachings instead of generic platitudes. (It’s just a coincidence that this particular blog post includes a couple different Christian picture books, and this one is definitely the more substantial of the two) So I immediately added it to the Amazon registry for my baby, and a friend from church got it for us. The book’s simple illustrations include images that will be very familiar to any child who attends a fairly traditional church, and the rhyming couplets describe the paradox of the trinity while acknowledging that this doctrine is “hard to explain”. While the style of the illustrations isn’t exactly to my personal taste and the meter is imperfect, this book is better-written than other children’s books on the same topic and is worth having in a church library, Sunday school classroom, or a child’s own book collection.

I See God in Everything by Travis Peagler, illustrated by Blueberry Illustrations

This title has not yet been released. Estimated publication date is July 1.

Despite the fact that this book comes from a very small indie publisher I’ve never heard of, (which seems to have only ever published a couple books, all by the same author) I decided to take a look at it based upon its beautiful cover and the fact that it falls into the surprisingly underrepresented genre of Christian picture books. The rest of the illustrations did not disappoint; this book is full of vibrantly colorful pictures depicting the beauty of nature and a cheerful, bright-eyed African American protagonist. The first several pages show the changing of the seasons; I especially enjoyed the detail in the hummingbirds and butterflies on the springtime pages. It was a little surprising and disappointing to me that the illustrator(s) isn’t/aren’t credited directly because the artwork came from a “children’s book illustration agency”. Unfortunately, those hummingbirds were the single redeeming quality in an otherwise unremarkable book. The text sometimes rhymes and sometimes doesn’t, but follows no distinguishable meter, there’s no logical progression of ideas, and the message is shallow; this book will do little to teach young Christians about God other than the vague fact that He exists. 

Franz- Ferdinand the Dancing Walrus by Marcus Pfister, Translated by David Henry Wilson

This title has not yet been released. Estimated publication date is October 5.

Franz-Ferdinand, a forty-two-year-old bull walrus with huge tusks, suddenly discovers a love for ballet after a group of dancing flamingos shows up in his homeland of Greenland. Despite the fact that Franz-Ferdinand has the wrong body type and doesn’t have a costume, he proves himself to be a very talented dancer. The company director, Madame Flamenco, gladly accepts him into the group. Unfortunately, the other flamingos are not so welcoming. In the end, Madame Flamenco and Franz-Ferdinand must start their own walrus ballet company. This story, originally published in Switzerland, is visually and thematically appealing thanks to the combination of animal facts, ballet, and beautiful artwork featuring the mountains and glaciers of Greenland. The plot is a little weak, though, and the environmentalist message comes across as being a little heavy-handed without contributing much to the story. There’s far more text than is typical of a picture book, making this one better suited for elementary-school readers than for preschoolers.