Citation

Klise, K. (2009). Dying to meet you: 43 Old Cemetery Road, book one. Boston, New York: Harcourt.

Genre/Format

Fantasy

Diversity

The main characters in this book range widely in age.  While the main child character is a boy, the book will appeal to both boys and girls.

Age for Use

Ages 7-12.

Plot Synopsis

Ignatius B. Grumply, a popular author of children’s ghost stories, is experiencing writer’s block.  To combat it, he decides to change his scenery, and moves to a rickety Victorian mansion in Ghastly, Illinois, for the summer so he can write his next book in peace.  However, rental of 43 Old Cemetery Road doesn’t include just the house: it also includes the care and feeding of eleven-year-old Seymour Hope and his cat Shadow.  It also involves coexisting with the ghost of Olive C. Spence, an aspiring writer who died without publishing her own work.  Olive and Seymour are initially in cahoots to get Ignatius OUT, but eventually they learn how to appreciate one another, write a book together, and become their “own kind of family.”  The story is told in correspondence between the main characters, as well as the realtor who rents Ignatius the house and Ignatius’s lawyer (E. Gadds), as well as snippets from the local paper.  It is also heavily illustrated, right down to the endpapers, by the author’s sister, M. Sarah Klise.

My Thoughts

I love the letter-writing format of this book.  It’s highly original among books written for this age group, and considering that letter writing is going out of fashion, might inspire some young person to write a letter of their own.  The concept is very clever, and I look forward to more books in this series!

Adult Appeal

This book would be very useful to those teaching units on how to write correspondence.  Kids might love to write a follow-up letter to the characters, or tell their own story via letters (or email, perhaps).  Also fun for recreational reading.

Professional Review

Shaw, M. (2009). [Review of Dying to meet you]. School Library Journal. Retrieved May 2, 2010 from http://reviews.schoollibraryjournal.com/bd.aspx?isbn=0152057277&pub=sl

Shaw calls this book a “ghastly and fun tale” which will attract readers, “especially reluctant ones.”

My Reaction to Review

I agree wholeheartedly, particularly about the reluctant reader part.  [An aside: my son did not want to read this book initially, saying “he wasn’t interested in reading somebody else’s mail.”  He eventually broke down and read it {it was there, after all}, and now he’s “dying” to read book two!]