Grades 3-5. When 11-year-old Hannah and her family move to an old house in the country, she is the only one to be aware of Ruth, a mischief-making child who died there 80 years earlier. While Hannah’s sisters carry on, oblivious, Hannah sinks deeper into misery, as she feels alienated from her family. Kelley has created a compelling array of characters, all seen from the viewpoints of Ruth and Hannah, neither of whom can be called a reliable judge of motivations in themselves or in others but both of whom are nevertheless sympathetic. Through Hannah, Ruth first regains access to a book she loved to read, and then, as events unwind, Hannah helps her acquire closure and move on to an afterlife. Hannah’s frustrations are palpable, and her final victory—discovering that her twin sister, too, can finally hear Ruth—is satisfying. There is a lot of action, simply but elegantly revealed at a pace that will keep Hannah and Ruth’s peers buried in their story right through the last page.
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