William Alexander

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GZLA

A PROPERLY UNHAUNTED PLACE

August 2018, Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster, 208 pp

From National Book Award–winning author William Alexander comes a wryly humorous story about two kids who try to save their town by bringing back its ghosts.

Rosa Ramona Díaz has just moved to the small, un-haunted town of Ingot—the only ghost-free town in the world. She doesn’t want to be there. She doesn’t understand how her mother—a librarian who specializes in ghost-appeasement—could possibly want to live in a place with no ghosts. Frankly, she doesn’t understand why anyone would.

Jasper Chevalier has always lived in Ingot. His father plays a knight at the local Renaissance Festival, and his mother plays the queen. Jasper has never seen a ghost, and can’t imagine his un-haunted town any other way. Then an apparition thunders across the fairgrounds and throws the quiet town into chaos.

Something otherworldly is about to be unleashed, and Rosa will need all her ghost appeasement tools—and a lot of help from Jasper—to restore peace to her new home.

STARRED REVIEWS

KIRKUS – “A fun and fast-paced supernatural mystery with secret depths for those who dare explore them.”

SHELF AWARENESS – “A meticulously crafted world so tangible it feels like an alternate version of our own.”

ACCOLADES

  • New York Times Editors’ Choice
  • Kirkus Best Book of the Year
  • Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year
  • Bank Street Best Book of the Year
  • Junior Library Guild Selection
  • Finalist for the Cybils Award
  • Finalist for the 2021 Geffen Award in Israel

INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS

HebrewUtz Publishing