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What I remember best were the large metal bookcases they brought into the library, all arranged in a circle and open like iron maidens, their shelves lined with books rather than bodies. If anything, these bodies of work were obscure, short for the young reader, and ultimately probably not going to be remembered as well as, say, a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird. They had cheap newsprint pages, paper covers, and occasionally came with little prizes like a glow-in-the-dark paint pen. They usually had 14 point font. Or larger. You were lucky to find a hardback, and if you wanted something a little more popular, you could pick up anthologies of Garfield instead.
Those are my grade school and middle school memories of book fairs. Do they still do those anymore? Literally portable bookstores that peddled cheapies for quarters on the dollar, not unlike pulp novels. God I loved those. I lived for their selection, however limited, and of all the cheap, nobody authored books I owned from those fairs, the ones I still have today are all the silly little ghost stories. Ghost in the Garden, Ghost Pony, Haunted Houses and other True Stories, the now infamous Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark anthologies (chock full of retold urban legends and the scariest illustrations this side of your MOM), Eerie Animals, The Screaming Skull (not to be confused, unfortunately, with the movie and subsequent MST3K riff), and The Glass Mermaid. With the exception of the last, you'll note a theme.
I'm kinda a ghost nut.
In any case, today we're gonna take a look through one of many Weekly Reader books I've bought over the years, Ghost in the Garden. Written by Carol H. Behrman, this light-hearted yet tender story of a lonely child and her desire for a companion in a new place. Its a tale of growing up and making new friends, a plight not so alien to the age group the book is aimed at.
10 year old Jennie Andrews has just moved into an old and quaint country house, away from all her friends in the city. While this seems so trivial to most adults and even young adults, having to move away from a place you've lived all your life is sometimes a devastating thing to a young child. Recall Chihiro's reluctance in the movie Spirited Away. For those of us who have moved often (or even once) as a child, you might feel the same as Jennie in her alien surroundings. Her first friend is Ben, the aged and often monosyllabic gardener that tends the home's expansive and very beautiful rose gardens.
But Jennie needs more than that. Its the beginning summer, and she has no one to play with. She needs the companionship of someone her age, someone who understands her...and that's where Samantha comes in. Dressed in fancy yet antiquated clothing, Samantha steps into Jennie's boring and lonely life to be her friend. "Didn't you call me?" she asks Jennie. Its as if Samantha was exactly Jennie wished for: a friend to play with, talk to, and is talented and beautiful as well as brave and adventurous.
But all is not what it seems with Jennie's new friend. She always leaves at dark, clockwork; she never meets Jennie's parents, even when Jennie begs her, so that Jennie is the only one who has met her; she often forgets and misremembers things like her mother, or even time passing; she approaches with no sound; she speaks in an antiquated way and inflection; while she lives nearby, its impossible to know where. Who is Samantha, and why is she here? Could Jennie's new friend be a ghost? But how can a ghost touch, explore, even be cognizant of her surroundings like Samantha?
Written for children, Ghost in the Garden is blissfully uncomplicated and straight forward. Its completely obvious to the reader that Samantha is not all she appears, that she is the eponymous ghost of the title. But the narrative of the story is not that Jennie's new friend is a ghost, but Jennie's growth as a person, and her need for friends. She is easily identifiable with most child readers as someone who needs a friend. It has its charming moments, despite its very juvenile, straight forward style. Its a kind and simple story with no pretenses, a refreshing change from most children's books nowadays.
In this way, its a very bright and honest book, down to the sometimes predictable yet endearing scenes of sadness and emotion. It still brings a tear to my eye when I read the ending. Ghost in the Garden may be an old book (I believe the copyright is 1984, positively ANCIENT to kids nowadays), but its a sincere story of a little girl and her loneliness. If anything, with the way children's books are going, I can easily see this as a heartwarming and tender animated children's film (of the Pixar fare). If you can locate and pick up this book, I recommend it enthusiastically. Charming, sweet, and sometimes heartbreaking and sad, Ghost in the Garden is a book no one should overlook, especially a parent. Highly recommended.
--Dio (10/19/10)
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