To Catch A Ghost
Rachel Michelle Wilson
Scholastic

Young Sam has recently started at a new school and now must contend with her first Friday show-and-tell. Anxious to make a good impression, she decides to bring a ghost. Gumption is what’s needed for the task, Sam tells readers and plans the entire operation out in three easy steps: find the ghost, observe and get to know it and finally, catch it.

Having donned a hat with attached camera, Sam hunts everywhere in the playground until whoppee! A ghost. Time to get to know the presence. This Sam does by playing hide-and-seek, watering plants and sharing a pizza.

Then comes cage building (done while the ghost is having forty winks) and when complete Sam baits the trap.

By now though Sam has come to think of the spectre as a friend and so trapping it feels all wrong. Off comes the padlock and the ghost is free. Sam sits and weeps briefly but what will happen at show-and-tell? A disaster or a rewarding experience? That you must find out by getting your own copy of this deliciously quirky book. It’s penned in the second person and the interplay between the words and the wonderfully expressive chalky illustrations exudes a gentle humour that will delight both young readers and adult sharers.