CHARLOTTE'S GHOSTS

In Simone’s novel for middle-grade readers, a grieving girl in the present day makes a connection with a Civil War–era spirit.

Seventh grader Charlotte Cross, who’s grieving the sudden loss of her father, recently moved with her mother from Arizona to Manassas, Virginia. She feels emotionally distanced from her mom but hopes to join the cross-country track team at her new school, where she’s navigating new friendships and an embarrassing crush. Then, one day, while running in a former Civil War battlefield near her house, Charlotte meets a 14-year-old boy in old-fashioned clothes—who strangely keeps vanishing and reappearing. She feels a connection to Jeremy, who may very well be a ghost; she becomes determined to help him in some way. Jeremy lived in Virginia in 1861 with his farming family when news broke that Virginia had seceded from the Union. He believed that he was old enough to fight on the Union side,but his parents were against it. His father planned to join the Union army and needed Jeremy to take care of the farm. Ma, a Quaker pacifist, was entirely against Jeremy signing up; he struggled to manage the farm through a long, difficult war. Jeremy was desperate to become a soldier, which he saw as a way to prove his manhood, and he chafed against the bonds that tied him to home—until an incident forced his hand. Simone’s well-paced middle-grade novel tackles serious topics with care and consideration. The story cleverly balances the past with the present, the supernatural with realism, and action with interiority. Themes of grief, connection, and belonging underpin the narrative, as well. Charlotte’s story is narrated in the first-person present tense, while Jeremy’s is told in third-person past tense—a stylistic choice that effectively highlights the time separating the main characters, as well as their very different experiences of adolescence. Simone’s emotional prose and vivid descriptions (“The pale morning light washed the spring’s colors into gray shadows. Even the sun seemed hesitant to rise that morning”) bring the narrative to life, right up until the affecting conclusion.

A middle-grade cross-genre standout.