PICTURE BOOK REVIEW & AUTHOR INTERVIEW : Little Ghost's Summerween by Maggie Edkins Willis

 

LITTLE GHOST'S SUMMERWEEN

written & illustrated by Maggie Edkins Willis

Beach Lane Books, 2026

ISBN;978-1-6659-8514-7

Source: publisher for review (Thanks!)

Ages 4-8

All opinions expressed are solely my own.

Book cover & summary provided by the publisher.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Little Ghost tries to pick the perfect party theme for his summer birthday in this charming picture book companion to Little Ghost Makes a Friend by bestselling author-illustrator Maggie Edkins Willis.

Little Ghost loves parties, but he’s only ever had the Halloween kind! After attending his first ever birthday party, Little Ghost decides to throw one of his own. His good friend Anya says his party should celebrate Little Ghost and what he likes most. That’s easy—Little Ghost loves Halloween with all its bats, black cats, candy corn, and pumpkins. There’s just one it’s summertime. And Halloween and summer just don’t mix…or do they?

REVIEW

Little Ghost wants to have a birthday party, but his favorite things all relate to Halloween : black cats, bats, candy corn & pumpkins. After attending his friend's camping themed birthday party, Little Ghost wants a party too, but none of his ideas feel quite right because they don't involve his favorite things. His ideas include baseball, superheroes, and dinosaurs but they just don't excite him. Ultimately, he decides to celebrate with his family, his best friend, Anya, and enjoy a mini-Halloween party. But his friends have other ideas, delighting Ghost with their surprise. The adorable illustrations offer many fun details to the story with a ball going through Ghost during kickball and a smore stuck to Ghost's head. And the theme of feeling seen by your friends shines through nicely. A sweet story with spooky elements for young readers who prefer their spooky with a strong dose of summer fun. Recommended.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR

Maggie Edkins Willis grew up in Missouri and Maine. She now writes and illustrates books for children from her home studio in the Hudson Valley, where she lives with her husband and two children. Her debut picture book, Little Ghost Makes a Friend, is a bestseller. She is also the creator of the picture books Little Ghost’s Summerween, Dinky the Tinysaur, andThunderland, and the middle grade graphic novel Smaller Sister. You can visit her online at MaggieMadeThis.com.

INTERVIEW

What is the 'story behind the story'?

Little Ghost stemmed from a character illustration I did in 2021 shortly before Halloween, depicting a sweet little ghost dressing up in different costumes. My now-art director, Sarah Creech, reshared the post and my editor, Catherine Laudone, saw it. She reached out and asked if I would be interested in turning this story into a book, which I certainly was! The aim with the initial Little Ghost book was to tell a truly sweet Halloween story, which can be harder to find among the wonderfully witchy and spooky offerings for that season. I adopted the exact palette and technique from my original piece and carried it through the entire story, and the result was really special. When it came time to discuss future books featuring this character, Catherine suggested building one around Summerween, an idea she recently read about because it is on the rise. She was right—last summer, I saw summery ghosts all over the place! It has been so fun to take this sweet, shy ghost on a new adventure, and to blend bright, happy summer imagery with the spooky, silly elements of this established world. 

What is the best thing about writing/illustrating for children? the worst?

I love how immediately kids can put themselves in the stories they read. I see this with my own son, who is 4, as well as with students I meet on school visits. They see a character in a book and immediately draw parrallels to their own lives. With the first Little Ghost book, kids love telling me what they want to be for Halloween and how they're decorating. With another one of my books, DINKY THE TINYSAUR, kids's hands always shoot up because they want to tell me what their favorite dinosaur is, what kind of dinosaur toy they have at home, or any number of other fun dino-tales. I can't wait to see what stories they have to tell me about ghosts in summertime! And as far as the worst goes . . . well, I wouldn't say this is the worst, because it impresses me every time, but definitely one of the hardest things about writing and illustrating for children is how sharp they are at catching details. I love planting little things for readers to find throughout the story, either referencing prior books or just sprinkling little gems for them to discover, like funny book titles on spines in a background bookshelf. But if you draw a character's part on the wrong side of their head or accidentally change the color of someone's shoes, readers will catch it and they won't be shy about letting you know!

Which comes first: words or illustrations?

Every book is different, but I usually have a single image, scene, or character in mind, and I write the story from that jumping off point. I then create concept art and more character studies, going back and forth between the manuscript and these sample art pieces until I feel I have really developed the world. From there, I polish the story, and then I fully sketch and render the rest of the art, usually in chronological order. So I would say both, and they grow up together!

What are some current books that have influenced you as a kidlit writer/illustrator?

As far as illustrators go, I love Sophie Blackall, Lucy Ruth Cummins, Jessie Sima, Liz Climo, Vashti Harrison, Hyewon Yum, and Cori Doerrfeld, among many others. They all have an incredible mix of emotive softness and bold, kid-friendly humor or candor, which is what I'm always trying to achieve in my work. Some books in particular I've loved recently are Ode To A Bad Day, written by Chelsea Lin Wallace and illustrated by Hyewon Yum, You're Loved by Liz Climo, and Go, Girls, Go! written by Frances Gilbert and illustrated by Allison Black. But there are many books that inspire me, and I'm always finding new ones!

What do you find most challenging about writing a sequel?

I would say the biggest challenge is keeping the world and the character that readers loved from the first book intact while still giving them a fully new narrative and experience. It's a delicate balance, because especially in picture books, I want readers to feel like they're on a new adventure with an old friend. In this book, I kept some elements from the first Little Ghost adventure, such as his friendships with Anya and the rest of his group. I kept a lot of decorative elements from the house and neighborhood, while also showing readers some new scenes and spaces, like Little Ghost's bedroom. I also adjusted the palette slightly by adding one new bright blue color to the range I used in the first book, to make the water feel as fresh and summery as possible. I also used more yellow in this book with more dramatic highlights to give the overall reading experience a slightly sunnier feel.

SAMPLE ILLUSTRATIONS