The Ghost of Sullivan Town

The “ghost” of Sullivan Town is that of the previous librarian, who died five years before the story opens. When Niki and Hugo go to work in the library, the ghost materializes to help them to solve the mystery of her death.

The ghost has all the bests lines — in fact, the best everything. She is almost believable, in striking contrast to the other characters in the book. Even Sullivan Town seems an awkward contrivance. Couple the caricatures that inhabit these pages with the dreadful plot and phoney dénouement, and you have searched in vain for the “imagination, entertainment and good writing” promised in the Jeanpac Series (by Macmillan of Canada). “[These] stories depict life experiences with which children from 8 to 12 years of age can identify,” the promotional literature promises. Life experiences? No.

The illustrations have a sort of Lois Lenski charm, but they do not fit the atmosphere, such as it is, of the text.