The Ghosts of Heaven

Reviewed by: Brooke Faulkner - McArthur Public Library, Biddeford, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: February 9, 2016

Review

This collection of four stories from different points in time - the first a free verse tale told from the perspective of a young cave dwelling woman; the second about a girl accused of witchcraft in historic England; the third set in the early 1900s in an asylum; and the fourth far in the future aboard a space craft - are loosely linked together with the employ of a recurring spiral symbol. Meditating on larger questions of the human condition and featuring lovely, evocative phrasing, this is a work epic in its themes but concise in format - not a single word seeming out of place or wasted. Winner of a 2016 Printz Honor Award, it will be best appreciated by sophisticated teen readers and adults.

Overall Book Score: excellent