Just South of Home by Karen Strong, 310 pages. Simon and Schuster, 2019. $18.
Content: PG (ghosts and spirits)
BUYING ADVISORY: EL - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Sarah, 12, has her summer plans upset when her Aunt Gina gets a small part in a movie and will spend most of the summer in Paris. It was bad enough that Sarah put up with her cousin Jane for two weeks, but now – even longer? Jane has a talent for getting in trouble – shoplifting, encouraging Sarah’s little brother Ellis to do dangerous things, and dragging both of the others with her to Creek Church, the negro church that was burned down by the KKK as a warning for the uppity negroes to keep their place. The only way to bring peace to Warrenville is for every family in the town to bring peace to their dead. The children may have to show the way.
A little bit small town summer life, a little bit ghost story, a little family drama. I wish the ghost story part had come on a bit stronger earlier in the book – for most of the book I thought it was just small town family drama. That part was okay, but the ghost part, when it finally kicked in, was great!
Cindy, Library Teacher, MLS
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