Ghost Buddy – Zero to Hero

Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver's Zero to Hero is a funny ghost story for 7 year olds about a boy who discovers his new bedroom already has someone living in it.

What happens

Billy Broccoli has just moved house with his mum, his new stepdad and his new stepsister Breeze. The house is ancient and creaky. Next door lives Rod Brownstone, who spies on him through binoculars. And Billy's bedroom is lavender and pink, with ponies chasing rainbows on the wallpaper!

Then his baseball kit unpacks itself. His cupboard smells of orange juice. And one night a baseball shirt floats out of the closet and starts talking.

It's Hoover Porterhouse the Third, a ghost who lived in that room ninety-nine years ago. He wears a flat cap and red braces, calls Billy "Georgie Boy" and thinks he's the snazziest thing in the house. Only Billy can see him, so Billy spends a lot of time looking like he's arguing with thin air.

The Hoove has problems of his own. The ghostly Higher-Ups send him a report card (it shakes the whole house like an earthquake), and he's failing Helping Others and Responsibility. Could a new roommate be just what he needs?

This is a proper giggle of a book. The jokes come thick and fast, from Billy's dentist stepdad and his tooth ties to Breeze telling Billy to filter all armpit talk. Billy is small, a bit nervous and very quick with a comeback, and he's easy to root for as he faces a new school and a neighbour twice his size.

Just so you know, Billy is eleven going on twelve and about to start middle school, so he's older than a lot of readers on this shelf. The humour is silly and friendly, but some of it is big-kid stuff, like a stepsister glued to her phone and a bully making threats. The Hoove also mentions, very lightly and as part of a joke, that he died in a car crash.

If your reader has ever moved house or started a new school, they'll know just how Billy feels. And if they love a sidekick who causes as much trouble as he fixes, the Hoove is brilliant.

What to read next

If they want more of the pair, the Hoove is back in How to Scare the Pants Off Your Pets, still dodging the Higher-Ups and still making mischief next door.