Backstagers and the Ghost Light will delight middle school grades

For me it was when I first saw Big that I realized that comic books were more than comic books. They tell a story and have the ability to evolve and change. In Big it was the ‘choose your story’ angle, however, before then I didn’t have the foresight to imagine comic books in any other medium than the occasional movie. I’ve since come around on that idea and am a huge proponent of great properties getting out there in as many formats as possible. As a comic book, The Backstagers isn’t in our top 10, but it’s certainly a great comic for those middle school students and up that dig theater. The Backstagers and the Ghost Light is the first novel to feature the stage crew at St. Genesius Prep in an original graphic novel.

This makes great sense. Amulet Books, the same company that put this book out, also distributes a series of original novels featuring Lumberjanes. Those books by Mariko Tamaki are great and closely mirror how much we like the monthly comic book series. This series of books by Andy Mientus with illustrations by Rian Sygh is much greater than our appreciation for the comic book.

I think it’s due to the extended story that the novel format allows.  Aziz, Beckett, Sasha, Hunter and Jory are onto something. They’re no strangers to bizarre happenings on or behind the stage, but things start take a turn for the uber bizarre when a light mysteriously explodes. At the same time a new musical is being cast and the shoe-in female lead has a horrible audition. Thankfully, at the exact same time a new girl auditions and blows them away.

The chapter length in The Backstagers and the Ghost Light range from 5 to 14 pages long, which is great for grades 5 and up. There isn’t anything objectionable in the book, but it will require a mildly strong reading ability. There are very few illustrations and the situations that the friends encounter are good, suspenseful, upper elementary and middle school fun. Those younger than that will find the reading to be too advanced for them to follow along.

I liked that the book really held a nice pace between a normal, yet eclectic group of stage hands and a slightly darker supernatural realm. If you’re reading The Backstagers for spooky stuff and monsters rest assured that they are there, it just takes a little bit to get there. In the meantime we meet lots of nice characters, find out about their eccentricities and take a deeper dive than the comic book from Boom! Studios allows us to do.