Review: ghostgirl

Title: ghostgirl
Author: Tonya Hurley
Publication date: August 1st, 2008


Summary:
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
And if I should die before I awake,
I pray the popular attend my wake.

Charlotte Usher feels practically invisible at school, and then one day she really is. Even worse: she's dead. And all because of a guy and a gummy bear. In this satirical yet heartfelt novel, Tonya Hurley explores the invisibility we all feel at times and the lengths we will go to be seen.


Review:
First of all, I really liked the design of the book itself. It was an odd size, and had a neat little see-through coffin thing on the front. The writing was all in silver, as were the side of the pages, and the inside was filled with pictures and fun "introductions" to each chapter. This all kind of helped to set the mood for the book.

Here's a quick rundown of the book, because the back cover didn't provide a ton of information. On Charlotte's first day back to school, she's determined to be noticed. She decides that this day will be the first day of her new life. Charlotte is determined to get the attention of Damen, a popular boy who already has a girlfriend. When he asks her to help tutor him in Physics, she can't believe it. But then she has a freak accident - she chokes on a red gummy bear and dies. She doesn't want to accept that fact though, and she believes that she can still win over Damen - through Scarlet, a girl who can see her. (And who happens to be Damen's girlfriend's sister.)

I really liked this book. I found Charlotte to be a bit annoying at times, like trying so hard to be popular on the first day back to school. And her refusal to accept the fact that she was dead kind of started to be annoying by the middle of the book. But I really liked the friendship that formed between Charlotte and Scarlet. The plot and writing were kind of simple, but it still had me laughing at a lot of parts (and in that kind of funny way, where the situation itself wouldn't normally be funny but you can't help but laugh. For example, Charlotte choking on the gummy bear and dying.)

Another thing that I liked while I was reading was that I had no idea what was going to happen. Some books are very predictable like that, but this one was not. There was always some new thing happening that I wasn't expecting, and I always wanted to keep reading to find out what kind of odd things would happen next.

I think it was all wrapped up and ended nicely, and would have been great as just a stand-alone book. But there's the sequel, ghostgirl: Homecoming, which I'll be reading next.


Characters: 8/10
Plot: 8/10
Originality: 9/10
Writing: 8/10
Overall grade: B