PICTURE BOOK REVIEW : Aggie and the Ghost by Matthew Forsythe
ABOUT THE BOOK
Aggie is very excited to live on her own—until she finds out her new house is haunted. But no fear, the situation is nothing that can’t be fixed with a carefully considered list of No haunting after dark. No stealing socks. No eating all the food.
But the ghost doesn’t like playing by the rules and challenges Aggie to an epic game of tic-tac-toe—winner gets the house.
REVIEW
In this rather unusual book, Aggie moves into a house only to discover that the place is haunted by a ghost. Despite her efforts to get rid of the ghost, the ghost refuses to comply with her rules. In fact, the ghost goes out of its way to break all the rules. Even when she takes a walk, the ghost comes along. Finally, the two play tic-tac-toe with the house as the prize. Will Aggie get to keep her house? And if she does win out over the ghost will living alone be all she expects? Forsythe's illustrations remind me greatly of Jon Klassen's work in all its strangeness. A story told with a versus feel to it leaving readers to wonder who's going to win out in the end. And like Klassen's work, the ending isn't what one might expect, leaving the reader in a tangle of ambiguity. But there is much to discuss and many opinions to be shared with a book like this one. Young readers may freely interpret the story in many different ways. Teachers and other adults will likely find reading and discussing this one with young readers to be an interesting exercise in different points of view. The muted colors found in the watercolor/colored pencil art allows the reader to focus on the feel and events of the story. And the fact that nothing stops Aggie from moving into a house on her own is likely to intrigue many a young reader. A thought-provoking story that readers aren't likely to forget in a hurry. Highly recommended for those who enjoy a dash of the unusual in the books they read.
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