“Okay, guys.”

From Jenna Ayoub’s Forever Home.

After a lifetime of frequent moves, Willow is thrilled that her parents have just moved the family into what they promise will be their forever home. However, the old Hadleigh House quickly proves to be far from abandoned when Willow sees the four ghosts that inhabit the house. The ghosts are startled that Willow can see and hear them, but they mostly ignore her to carry out with their un-dead lives. While the constantly-weeping Lady and the quiet soldier Thomas keep to themselves, the other two ghosts, spinster sisters Viola and Gladys Hadleigh, have made it their eternal life’s work to get Willow’s family to move out. While Willow tries to run interference between the Hadleigh sisters mischief and her parents, she is able to convince Thomas to help her in exchange for new reading material. Trying to stop Viola and Gladys stresses Willow more and more, but as the cranky ghosts continue their mischief, Willow’s parents begin to look for other places to live. Heartbroken at the thought of moving again, Willow finally lets down her guard and her honesty startles all the ghosts. As the young girl and the ghosts realize how many similarities their lives hold, attitudes begin to change, but convincing Willow’s parents to stay will take all of them working together. 

Through clever artwork and text bubbles, this graphic novel offers an interesting and unexpected display of developing new friendships. While the beginning of the story seems a bit clunky because the “how” of the character interaction isn’t really explained, but overall, the story is engaging. Forever Home is a quick read that manages to be both fun and heartfelt which will connect with many young readers.