Greta and the Ghost Hunters

Sam Copeland's Greta and the Ghost Hunters is a funny ghost story for 9 year olds about a girl who comes back from a very short death able to see ghosts.

What happens

Greta Woebegone is ten and very sure ghosts don't exist. Then a roll of Sellotape (one of Grandma's birthday presents, along with a tin of kidney beans) bounces under her bike wheel and sends her into the path of a car. Her heart stops for nearly two minutes.

When she's finally well enough to climb up to Grandma's attic, there's an old man standing by the door. It's Grandpa, who died when she was tiny. He thinks her recorder playing sounds like an angry cat in a box.

Grandma has always said she chats to him. It turns out she's been pointing at the wrong bit of the room!

Then there's Percy, a boy covered in boils who had Greta's bedroom until 1591. He'd like to play Stick-Push-a-Poo. He's also fairly convinced Grandma is a witch.

Meanwhile Greta's parents want Grandma moved into a home (Mum has her eye on the attic for a yoga studio). So Greta comes up with a plan. If the ghosts can spook her parents, surely they'll have to believe Grandma isn't just talking to herself? What could go wrong? Quite a lot, involving a hairdryer and a runaway stairlift.

The best bit is whoever's telling the story. They won't say who they are, can't remember the name of Greta's little brother and keep stopping to tell your reader off. It's cheeky and VERY silly, and children who love a book that talks back will be giggling away.

There's a softer side under the jokes too. Since the accident, Greta can't face going outside.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

The accident happens right at the start, not as a twist, and Greta is described as properly dead for those two minutes. It's played for laughs, but it's still a child hit by a car. Percy's little sister and mother died of the plague, and Grandpa says good riddance when he hears his wife might be sent away. A child who's been through an accident or a recent loss might find this lands harder than the jokes suggest. If your reader likes their humour a bit dark (and a bit rude), they'll have a great time.

What to read next

If it's the scheming grown-ups they enjoy, try Dial a Ghost by Eva Ibbotson. A greedy cousin wants an orphan boy out of the way so he can have a big gloomy hall for himself, and an agency that supplies ghosts gives him an idea.