I wasn’t the type of person to stay up all night reading until I discovered “Jade Green: a Ghost Story”. That’s right, as soon as I picked up this book in language arts; I couldn’t put it down at all. I read it through my next classes and “forgot” to do my homework that night. This definitely isn’t your everyday fantasy book overflowing with cheesy romance and frothy, disgusting love scenes. Yep, that’s right. You know the awkward excruciatingly long romantic parts in Disney movies? The ones that make you want to fast forward? Well in this book there’s only a bit of romance, which is peppered between the pages delicately, not the normal everyday teenage drama type of story. I don’t even like using the word romance. Eeeek, perhaps I’ll just call it a fling.

This book starts out with one orphan named Judith whose uncle invites her oh so kindly to live with him in his mansion within a place called Whispers. There’s only one condition: no green whatsoever must be brought with her. Judith can’t seem to obey his orders and brings a green picture frame, a present from her dead mother.

Later in the book something seems to be happening in her closet. Scratching sounds awaken her at night, and a presence lingers within her room. Nights seem even more restless to Judith as soon as more than once she feels fingers brush her cheeks among her empty room at night. She also discovers the blood stain of a body on the stairs of a little room, in a little bedroom, upstairs… Could it be true that the ghost of Jade Green still dwells in the large mansion at Whispers?

Perhaps the death of Jade Green just doesn’t add up properly. Will it take a cantankerous 40 year old cousin, hints (or should I say haunting) from a ghost, or much more for Judith to figure it all out? A complicated will, a house fire, and much more might just be what it takes for things to finally be solved.

The author truly captures and engaged me, clutching my eyes to every word on every page. Thank you, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor for providing me with such a splendid read. This was honestly one of my favorite pieces of work that I have ever read, and I hope others will get a chance to read it too.