Phantom Academy by Christine Virnig

I don't know about you, but I'm in the mood for a little mystery...and today's read is just that. To add some spooky fun, there are ghosts involved too. Lots of them. An entire school of them. I curious to see where this tale leads and hope the mystery grabs the entire way through.

So, grab those flashlights and blankets, and let's crack this one open to take a peek.

PHANTOM ACADEMY

by Christine Virnig

Aladdin

Middle Grade Paranormal Mystery

272 pages

ages 8 to 12

Lindsay Currie’s Scritch Scratch meets The School for Invisible Boys in this fun romp of a middle grade novel about a newly dead boy who faces a spooky new school hiding an unearthly mystery.

After an unlucky collision between a coconut and the top of his head, twelve-year-old Finn joins the ranks of the recently deceased…and of the students at Phantom Academy. The academy is a spectral boarding school for underage ghosts finding their footing in the afterlife, and Finn is the new kid at school.

He doesn’t understand why ghosts have to take tests and do homework. Or why making friends doesn’t get any easier even when all the students have a very big thing in common. As the new class of middle schoolers get to know each other, it becomes clear something is happening behind the scenes of their new academy.

Can Finn and his classmates figure out their afterlife and crack the mystery?

GOODREADS     /      AMAZON

MY TIDBITS

Get ready for a little middle school drama, but not in the normal way. 

After a very extraordinary death, Finn finds himself as a ghost and off to ghost school with four other ghosts his age. Not that he gets why the worst thing in life continues to haunt in the afterlife. While several of the classes are somewhat the same as live school, at least, there's now one on haunting. The worst aspect of the school, though, is that he's not allowed to see his family until he graduates...and that will be five years. After all, the teachers and other adults are allowed to go to the living world at least once a month. Deciding that it'd be best to find a way to escape the school, he and his classmates, aka friends, do their best to find a way out. Instead, they're learning that the teachers harbor a secret.

Finn's death surprises and will have readers raising eyebrows right away. It sets the tone with a sense of humor and sadness as he lands in the after life and has to first digest the changes. There's a constant edge of sadness as Finn misses his family and, wanting to, at least, see them again, begins to plot his escape from the school. This makes him easy to sympathize and root for, especially since the wrongness of the situation edges in little by little. There's a growing sense of tension, but it never races forward on this end, letting the mystery unfold one step at a time. Thanks to the familiar setting of teachers and school life, it's easy to picture the scenes. The paranormal end offers a dose of fantasy and fun to keep everything light enough to balance the sadness and adventure.

It's an enjoyable tale from start to finish, and keeps the pacing high the entire way through. Some of the characters come across a little superficial, but it works well for the age group. There's a message about friendship, family, and mourning, but the main plot stays strong to keep this one focused on fun and adventure.

And here she is...

Christine Virnig is a fan of books, candy, spooky stories, poop jokes, and coffee…in no particular order. A former physician, Christine now spends her days writing books, reading books, and working at a library where she is surrounded by books. Christine lives in southern Wisconsin with her husband, two daughters, a ridiculous number of dust bunnies, and one incredibly lazy cat. You can visit her on the web at ChristineVirnig.com.