Ghoulia and the Mysterious Visitor, undead fun for primary school

 Ghoulia, Making New Friends Can Be Scary was a lovely surprise when we read it. The characters had that slightly familiar, spooky family vibe about them. There were traces of The Addams Family, a little Hotel Transylvania and aspects of The Nightmare Before Christmas. Yet, at the same time, Ghoulia was a creation unto its own. And the Mysterious Visitor has more of her-and her family’s story to tell and it’s even more delightful than the first one for the same reasons and more.

The series is from Barbara Cantini. Unlike its main characters, it actually has a heart and wears it on its sleeve. From the first couple of pages it’s obvious that the series is lovingly, painstakingly drawn with incredible detail. It all starts off with an introduction to the residents of Crumbling Manor. Ghoulia lives there with her Auntie Departed, a loyal dog named Tragedy, Grandad Coffin, Uncle Misfortune (who is a just a head) and some other spooky critters.

We also meet Ghoulia’s human friends. These are the humans that she aspired to, and succeeded in meeting in the first book. The doorbell rings on a rainy day and Ghoulia thinks that it’s one of her friends, but it’s actually her cousin, Dilbert. She didn’t even know that she had a cousin and now he’s at her front door saying that he’s responding to her invitation.

She scampers around the house asking her family what’s going on when the door bell rings again. This time it’s one of her favorite human friends, Michael, who also has an invitation. Before long all of her human friends are at the house and people start disappearing.

For us, this is where Ghoulia could’ve gone off of the rails or been as good as its predecessor. Had the reason for all of these disappearances been something hokey or mamby pamby like they were planning a birthday party; then the book and series would’ve lost all of the age appropriate goth. Instead, the book plays to its dark side, again in an age appropriate manner, and in doing so makes Ghoulia and the Mysterious Visitor even better than the first one.

The first book was great, but seemed to be too much of a lesson or moral play. Be nice, accept others, be the person that you want others to play with, think of any kid friendly lesson regarding new friends and it was there. It still worked because of the meticulous artwork.

Ghoulia and the Mysterious Visitor is even more effective because the story concentrates on the fun and the spooky factor; instead of trying to teach kids through allegory. The artwork is even more detailed. Each scene has multiple pictures that you’ll look for, point out or realize you didn’t see the first time you saw it. It’s a Where’s Ghoulia, without the shtick of finding her. In this book the real treat is following the story and then looking at the pictures, or vice versa. Ages 8 and up will be able to read most of the book, with a little assistance. That age is the jumping on point, but the detailed illustrations will hook readers who are much older than that. This is a great example of, “sure it’s a children’s book but I like reading it too”.