Synopsis: When three children break into the library in the middle of the night, they know there’s a chance they will get into trouble. What they don’t know is that they are about to unleash the spirits of Prithvideep. When Professor Hezekiah T. Osgood died, his son donated his entire collection of books to Carville Library. Many of the books relate to his time on the island Prithvideep, also known as Ilhas dos Fantasmas. Three children recite an incantation from the yellowing pages of one rare book of sorcery by the flickering glow of a dying torch. Little do they know that they are about to conjure the lost spirits from this island. There was a time when humans and the spirits of the dead coexisted quite happily on Prithvideep, but very suddenly in 1936, all of the ghosts disappeared. Somehow they were captured and became trapped in the books which now reside in Carville Library. It’s up to Courtney, Orion and Ming and one determined librarian to get to the bottom of the mystery and set the phantoms free.

Review: I felt sure that this book would be utterly ridiculous when I read the blurb but was in fact pleasantly surprised. It was a fairly entertaining, if simple, read and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to a late primary/early secondary reader who likes a good mystery story. One of the most enjoyable parts of the novel personally was the constantly switching narrative voice. Throughout the novel, Alter tells the stories of many different characters and each of these has a clear voice and a story that eventually melts in with the overarching narrative. It also contains a range of different styles of writing including history book, diary and dictionary and might therefore generate discussion about language, style and audience. I cannot help but mention one particularly detestable teacher character who attempts to burn any library books with an unhappy ending! This certainly throws up a few issues about right and wrong which could be explored as a PSHE/citizenship link.