The Ghost Garden by Emma Carroll illustrated by Kaja Kajfez

 

Barrington Stoke are the publisher of short novels which support children with dyslexia but will also appeal to younger readers who have not yet developed the reading stamina needed for longer books. Often these stories introduce children to different genres. The Ghost Garden is a ghost story but it is also set in 1914 as World War II is about to begin so it's Historical Fiction too.  

Here are the opening sentences.  This slim book only has 89 pages so it is important to "hook in" the reader right from the beginning:

"Fran found a bone in the potato patch. It was lying deep in the soil, as dark as an old tree root. The prong of Fran's garden fork hit it with a grim thwack."

Just look at this sentence for a moment.  She found a bone - how interesting and mysterious and possibly spooky. The bone has been buried for a long time - it was deep and dark. How long has this bone been in the ground? How did it come to be there? Then comes the all important word - grim. Hopefully at this point your young reading companion (aged 8+) is brimming with further questions.  Where is this garden? Who is Fran? Why is she digging in the garden? Is this bone human? Will Fran find more bones?

Fran is the daughter of the Head Gardener at Longbarrow House. The Grandchildren of the estate owner, Mrs Walker, are usually away at boarding school but it is summer holidays and the three children have come home. Fran finds them noisy and silly but then the oldest boy - Leo has an accident and he is now confined to a wheelchair. Mrs Walker asks Fran to keep him company. Fran is not keen to do this but more importantly she worries that finding and breaking the bone in the garden bed is somehow connected with Leo breaking his leg. The mystery deepens when Fran finds a small doll in the garden. It is a tiny china doll called a "Frozen Charlotte".  These little dolls were popular between 1850 and 1920. Fran is an only child but on the day she finds the doll her mum and dad share their news that a new baby is expected. Is just another coincidence? 

We know that in all the best stories things come in sets of three. Leo and Fran find an old map and this leads them to an ancient burial mound. After Fran investigates the mound a group of ancient ghost soldiers march past the children. The next day the newspaper headlines say "Great Britain declares war on Germany."

A sumptuous little feast, to be devoured in one go. MinervaReads

Barrington Stoke have once again brought one of our finest writers of children’s books and they have together they have a created a story that is truly accessible but ultimately captivating. Book Lover Jo

I have previously talked about two books by Emma Carroll

Letters from the Lighthouse

In Darkling Wood