MIDDLE GRADE SPECULATIVE FICTION (Fantasy) : Eleanor, Alice, and the Roosevelt Ghosts by Dianne K. Salerni

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ABOUT THE BOOK

Murderous ghosts and buried family secrets threaten young Eleanor and Alice Roosevelt in this thrilling middle-grade novel that puts a supernatural spin on alternate history.

It's 1898 in New York City and ghosts exist among humans.

When an unusual spirit takes up residence at the Roosevelt house, thirteen-year-old Eleanor and fourteen-year-old Alice are suspicious. The cousins don't get along, but they know something is not right. This ghost is more than a pesky nuisance. The authorities claim he's safe to be around, even as his mischievous behavior grows stranger and more menacing. It's almost like he wants to scare the Roosevelts out of their home - and no one seems to care!

Meanwhile, Eleanor and Alice discover a dangerous ghost in the house where Alice was born and her mother died. Is someone else haunting the family? Introverted Eleanor and unruly Alice develop an unlikely friendship as they explore the family's dark, complicated history. It's up to them to destroy both ghosts and come to terms with their family's losses.

Told from alternating perspectives, thrills and chills abound in Dianne K. Salerni's imaginative novel about a legendary family and the ghosts that haunt their secrets.
 
REVIEW
 
In this alternative history of the Roosevelt cousins, Eleanor and Alice, the girls must face off with some ghosts.  The clever combination of historical fact with fantastical elements works surprisingly well.  Eleanor Roosevelt lives with her maternal grandmother who treats her like a poor relation being given charity (and little enough of that).  She struggles to stand up for herself and her wants.  Alice is everything Eleanor is not, loud, adventurous, and full of pranks.  The two girls don't really get along.  But when their aunt's house becomes infested with a ghost, the girls must work around their differences in order to discover who the ghost is and why it's behaving in a more and more dangerous manner.  In addition to the ghost in Aunt Bye's house, the girls must face unanswered questions from Alice's past that lead to another ghost.

Salerni does a fabulous job presenting this story from both Eleanor's and Alice's perspectives.  It doesn't always make sense to have more than one central point of view, but because Eleanor and Alice are so different and have different experiences at various points in the story it's necessary to have both points of view.  The inclusion of brief historical documents (fictionalized) helps create the historical setting.  I really enjoyed reading this book, both because I've read quite a bit about the Roosevelts, but because of the exciting ghost stories.  This is the kind of book that can encourage young readers to develop an interest in real history.  A well-told exciting ghost story mixed beautifully with historical fiction.

Comments

  1. I really liked this! My daughter's name is Eleanor, so that might have helped, but I love Salerni's The Eighth Day series as well.

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