A Properly Unhaunted Place

In this accessible fantasy, Rosa's mother is a "library appeasement specialist," famous for her ability to "settle" the ghosts that hang around books. So Rosa is disappointed when, in the wake of her father's sudden death, her mother takes a job in Ingot, the famously unhaunted town that hosts an annual Renaissance Festival (think "Ye Olde Cappuccinos"). Jasper, son and "squire" to the festival's African American headliner Sir Morien (Rosa: "I've read about a Black Knight..." Jasper's dad: "...but never a black knight?"), wishes Ingot weren't so boringly normal. He's simultaneously thrilled and terrified when an unnaturally animated bobcat with a skull for a head crashes the festival and is handily turned back by Rosa. But when Rosa's mother loses her voice, lending it to an angry ambulatory tree, it's up to Rosa, with Jasper's help, to find out what the restive spirit wants. The ghost lore that Alexander creates--a whole culture that leaves pebbles before mirrors and lights candles to help ghosts "pass between boundaries"--is satisfying in its subtle reveal and coherent structure, including the plot-enabling principle that banishment never works and often backfires. As in any good haunting, the town's backstory and ghost story are intimately related, and readers will follow along avidly as Alexander's exciting episodes and resonant images lay out the connections. anita l. burkam