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Humano Morphs


#25 - A Ghostly Playmate

Synopsis

I dare you to come out and play! Do not take that dare, Virginia. It will be a double dare if she does. One, she moved with her family from the quiet countryside to noisy New York City. Two, because her new best friend is a ghost. Ghosts always win at hopscotch. Get out of here! No really, Virginia and her mom and dad should leave -- right away. Those ghostly games become weirder and weirder. Virginia doesn't want to play anymore. But her ghoul-friend won't stop. Tag, you're it! What does that ghost really want? That's easy -- she wants a playmate. For ever and ever.



Comments

"The servants always considered me a lonely child." What a great first sentence!

Virginia is easily one of my favorite Shivers characters. Her background and attitude make for a very interesting stories. And boy are her parents weird! Great setup.

Early on, the reader wonders about her father's work and what his mysterious invention might be ... all they know for sure is that it will be part of the plot. But how big of a part?

I like the parts where she tries to understand such difficult and abstract things like loneliness. There are some heavy topics in this book.

The heaviest of all is the story about dead baby Caroline. And when "Carly" shows up, the reader immediately connects the two dots ... but are they right?

Carly's a perfect playmate for Virginia, particularly how she challenges Virginia's snobby attitude!

The skeleton in the closet was a pretty creepy scene ...

Toward the end of the book, the way Carly only has energy to do certain things (imposing some rules onto the afterlife) is pretty interesting.

I love Carly toward the end. She's like a crazy ex-girlfriend who just doesn't get the message!

The ending is really great ... happy ending for all.



Interesting Info

  • The background color is yellow, and the Shivers logo is neon green.
  • The cover looks like a scene out of Casper ... Virginia is handing a doll to a ghost. A cool window is in the background.
  • The dedication reads "To Barb. Love, MD."
  • The copyright date is 1997. It's seems to be the first book published in 1997 ... the ones that came before were published in 1996. 24 books published in one year? That's impressive by any measure.



Cover Image