The Ghost Sitter

As a collector of books who have won awards or nominations, I was excited to find an Edgar Allan Poe Finalist among the books on clearance at a local bookstore's closing sale. I picked it up without hesitation and without otherwise looking through it. When I got home and read the back I began to worry. "What if you were a ghost - and didn't know it? - Charlotte is looking forward to a great summer in her new home, even though she has to take care of her little brother, Brandon. She has her own bedroom, a nearby pool, a friendly neighbor, a big Fourth of July block party coming up - everything about the new house is terrific. Then strangely, Brandon, who's usually such a handful, starts tasking for his new friend 'Suzie.' Is someone else show more playing with him? Someone only he can see? Soon Charlotte realizes that her all too normal house is haunted - by the ghost of a girl who doesn't realize that she's dead..." Looking at the long list of things included in the story as I felt the thinness of the book in my hand (It is only 131 pages) I began to worry. How could this book possibly hold up to my expectations?

It turns out that I had no reason to be worried. From the time that I began reading I realized that the story was much more than the description allowed for. The writing is almost poetic at times and the characters are so well developed that when you've finished reading you feel as if you've completed a book that had twice as many pages of back story than you actually have. The book is more than a ghost story, it is a story about the bond between siblings and friends. With Susie, the ghost, we find just how close two sisters can be and how that bond never really goes away, even after a lifetime of being alone. As her time with Charlotte lengthens, we also learn how an uncertain friendship can become something very special if we give it time grow. Charlotte gives us other views of sibling love and friendship. She is not as close to her brother, he often causes trouble and throws things at her, yet she still takes care of him and loves him as his big sister. Charlotte also makes friends with the girl next door who is very different from her, but it is clear how those differences make them stronger and bring them closer to each other.

The Ghost Sitter looks at the idea of a haunting from a different perspective than most ghost stories do. The two main families int he story are a reflection on the two more obvious American views on death; Charlotte's family sees it as morbid and her friend Shannon's family sees it as a part of the way of things, allowing her to read up on all kinds of paranormal activities. Between the two comes the solution to finding the balance in Susie's afterlife, concluding in a beautiful ending for the book, a new beginning for those in the story and, quite possibly, a new beginning for the one reading it too. show less

Charlotte has moved into a new house that is reportedly haunted by the ghost of a girl who died on the Fourth of July in a fireworks accident. Sparkling Suzie can be seen by little kids only like C’s little brother Brandon and she is there because she promised her baby sister Gloria that she would stay until she returned. C finds S’s grave and leaves a note hoping that G might still be alive and can help S rest.p.42-48 The Séance(S does not realize she is a ghost and wonders why she is being ignored)

When she realizes that her new house is haunted by the ghost of a ten-year-old girl who used to live there, Charlotte tries to help her find peace.

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