Sheets - Brenna Thummler - ★★★★

AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR: Brenna Thummler

SERIES: Sheets, #1

GENRE: Middle-grade Graphic Novel.

RATING: 4 stars.

In a Nutshell: A sweet story about a girl and a ghost who come together in an unusual friendship after some hiccups. Good for middle-graders and younger teens.

Story Synopsis:

Marjorie, a high schooler, has recently lost her mom, and her dad isn’t able to cope with the grief. So it is up to Marjorie to handle her school work, help her younger brother Owen, and keep the family laundry running, though it is getting tougher by the day, thanks to a greedy businessman who wants to grab their prime-location property.

Wendell is a ghost who died too young and doesn’t have any friends in the ghost town he now resides in. Even death therapy isn’t helping, and in a desperate bid to find some purpose, he escapes to the human world.

When Marjorie and Wendell meet, the initial encounter is as you might expect, but soon proceeds to a journey of mutual healing and helping.

The story comes to us in the alternate perspectives of Marjorie (written in first person) and Wendell (written in third person.)

The story begins somewhat slowly, but once we are clear about the reason behind Marjorie’s sadness, the going is much smoother. Seeing the story from Marjorie’s and Wendell’s alternating perspectives also makes a big difference. Wendell doesn’t stay a random ghost but as someone with feelings and needs, so hearing from him even in third person elevates the experience.

With the themes of the death of one parent, the grief and depression of the other parent, and death of a young boy, the story is quite heavy. There is a subtle melancholy to most of the pages, heightened by Marjorie’s feeling as if she herself is a ghost, wandering through life without any meaning. At the same time, the author weaves in some light humour through Wendell’s habit of exaggerating the stories of his life. The final effect is still feel-good.

Wendell’s “lively” imagination and his yearning for acceptance make him a ghost as adorable as Casper. I loved everything about the ghost world, including the use of sheets, the need for death therapy, and of course, the “Ghosturizer” – wish I too could have access to it.

The book could have handled the following points better:

1. It doesn’t even mention Marjorie’s age, a fact crucial to understanding the character’s behaviour. Only the Goodreads blurb reveals that she is thirteen.

2. The storyboarding is at time jumpy, skipping over certain scenes and not continuing certain minor tracks.

3. There is also a stock antagonist in the form of Mr. Saubertuck. While his track contains some interesting moments, some parts of his arc (especially about the finances) might not be clear to younger readers.

4. Marjorie’s dad handling of grief should have been better written. His character sketching is somewhat fuzzy.

5. The backstory is quite vague.

Of course, this is just the first of the series, so I hope some of the above gaps are plugged in by the remaining two books. I also hope to see more of Mr. Duncan, the PE teacher, as his character had tremendous potential.

The illustrations are pretty good, while not mind-blowing. The human world is depicted in myriad colours, while the ghost world is almost monochromatic, coming only in shades of dull green, black and white. This establishes the difference of location instantly in the minds of the readers. Though the ghost world had duller palettes, I still enjoyed the sketches of the various ghosts. They were fun, and their expressions despite the sheets were “out of this world”.

I read this with my younger daughter, who is of the right age group for this graphic novel. Her reaction showed me that the book works perfectly for its target readers, and as long as book can keep its intended audience happy, who am I to crib?

4.5 stars from the kiddo. (3.5 stars from adult me, not that it matters much.) Averaging the two.

Onto the second book of the series with the little one for company. 😊