Sparrow Dalton doesn't have many friends. Some kids believe her house near the swamp is haunted. Others think there's something "unusual" about her.

 

But Sparrow's not lonely; she has a best friend who's always with her. He sits with Sparrow on her beloved porch swing. He makes her smile by playing pranks in church. Yet Sparrow is the only one who can see him, because the Boy is a ghost.

 

So when her mama passes away, leaving Sparrow to live with sour, snide Auntie Geraldine, Sparrow doesn't give up hope. After all, if the Boy can linger after death, then surely Mama can return as well.

 

But the Boy has a heartbreaking secret of his own, one that Sparrow will need to uncover before the ghost will lead her to Mama. To solve the mystery, Sparrow joins forces with some unlikely allies: Maeve and Johnny, siblings from a family of town outcasts, and Elena, a child fortune teller who, inconveniently, happens to be terrified of ghosts.

 

With its lyrical prose, loving depiction of small town life, and characters who feel like old friends, this magial debut will enchant you, dazzle you, and make you feel at home.