Ghostopolis

Ghostopolis
by Doug TenNapel
Scholastic, 2010. 266 pgs. Young Adult

Scholastic's Graphix imprint has produced some terrific titles for middle-schoolers in the explosive field of graphic novels, and Ghostopolis is a perfect example. Garth, the young son of a single mother, suffers from an incurable disease but that fact takes a back seat to more pressing matters when he is accidently sent into the afterlife with a rogue skeleton horse who has sneaked back into mortality. The agent of that mistake is an agent--Frank Gallows of the Supernatural Immigration Task Force. Forbidden to have anything to do with correcting his mistake, Frank sneaks into the Afterlife with his lady friend Claire Voyant and together with Garth they transform what they find there. TenNapel's novel is witty, wise, funny (with just enough bathroom humor to keep tween boys yucking it up), and wildly exciting. Pictures and text are seamlessly arrayed to keep readers anxiously engaged in cheering on the good guys and booing the villains. A terrific choice for reluctant readers.

LW