Ghoul Summer

A tween’s boring summer vacation takes a bizarre turn in this eerie ghost story by Badua (Thea and the Mischief Makers). Twelve-year-old Barnaby Vargas is resigned to spending the summer helping pack up his grandfather’s beachfront home in preparation for his moving in with the Vargases. What Barnaby assumes will be a humdrum season, however, becomes a certified nightmare when he realizes that his family’s nearby summer rental is haunted by perpetually 11-year-old Maxwell Warner, who died in 1984 and has been stuck in the residence ever since. Following some initial friction—the ghost isn’t thrilled to be sharing his room with the mortal, who is similarly unenthused about being haunted—the pair strike a tentative truce: if Barnaby helps Maxwell complete his unfinished business, Maxwell will stop tormenting Barnaby. But the longer it takes to discover what Maxwell’s unfinished business is, the more likely it becomes that Barnaby will be haunted forever. Badua contrasts a carefree summer at the beach with expressions of Maxwell’s—and, across a lateral subplot, Grandpa’s—frustration and loneliness as they each struggle to move on. Maxwell’s plight as a boy out of time and Barnaby’s craving for normalcy against the backdrop of a decades-old mystery further highlight themes of home and belonging as both boys search for their place and purpose. The Vargases are of Filipino descent; Maxwell cues as white. Ages 8–12. Agent: Natalie Lakosil, Looking Glass Literary. (Sept.)