Here are 100 books that How to Make Friends with a Ghost fans have personally recommended if you like
How to Make Friends with a Ghost.
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I’ve been a fan of horror stories since I was a kid. As an introverted and shy kid, I used to joke with my best friend about how I felt like a ghost and wished I had the power to be invisible. After I became a children’s book author/illustrator, I became fascinated with ghost picture books and started collecting them. Ghost picture books not only fulfilled my spooky necessities but also gave me warmth and heartfelt emotions.
A delightful, funny story of friendship, ghost chores, a spooky house and a professional haunter.
Meet Sir Simon, Super Scarer. He's a professional ghost who has been transferred to his first house. And just in time! He was getting tired of haunting bus stops and forests and potatoes. And to top it off, this house is occupied by an old lady -- they're the easiest to haunt!
But things don't go as planned when it turns out a KID comes with this old lady. Chester spots Simon immediately and peppers him with questions. Simon is exasperated. . . until he…
Three friends become caught up in a monkey-worshipping cult when a stone circle suddenly appears overnight next to their home.
The cult is headed by famous racing driver Gordon Smash who disappeared in the Amazon rainforest in the 90s after a stunt went badly wrong. Alongside space tech billionaire Micky…
I’ve been a fan of horror stories since I was a kid. As an introverted and shy kid, I used to joke with my best friend about how I felt like a ghost and wished I had the power to be invisible. After I became a children’s book author/illustrator, I became fascinated with ghost picture books and started collecting them. Ghost picture books not only fulfilled my spooky necessities but also gave me warmth and heartfelt emotions.
Gustavo is one of the most adorable ghosts, and his story is so relatable. As an introverted and shy person, I can relate to all of Gustavo’s struggles, especially the struggle with making friends.
Flavia’s artwork is so fantastic, expressive, and vibrant. I love the characters and textures. I also love how Flavia applied Mexican culture to the artwork.
A story of friendship and courage - perfect for the spooky season or all year round!
Gustavo is a ghost. He is good at doing all sorts of paranormal things, like walking through walls, making objects fly and glowing in the dark. And he loves playing beautiful music on his violin. But Gustavo also has a problem. He is SHY. Which means some things are harder for him to do, like getting in a line to buy eye-scream or talking to the other monsters. But Gustavo longs to be a part of something, he longs to be seen. More than…
I’ve been a fan of horror stories since I was a kid. As an introverted and shy kid, I used to joke with my best friend about how I felt like a ghost and wished I had the power to be invisible. After I became a children’s book author/illustrator, I became fascinated with ghost picture books and started collecting them. Ghost picture books not only fulfilled my spooky necessities but also gave me warmth and heartfelt emotions.
It’s a heartwarming book about how a friendship could cross any barrier. I love how Cat contrasted the world of Shinbi—the ghost, and Greem—the shadow. The dark, starry night and the colorful, greenish day.
I adore Cat Min’s watercolor artwork and how she handled the colors. The book is so beautiful and delightful!
Shinbi is not a particularly ghosty ghost. At night she likes making tiny bouquets of things, and gazing at the far away stars. Haunting? Not so much. Even if that’s what the other ghosts like.
In the daytime, in a meadow, sits a single rock, casting a single shadow, named Greem. He’d really like someone to talk to. But who? He writes one word on his lonely rock: “Hi” and hopes someone will see it. Sure enough, in the darkness of night, Shinbi finds the note! But who could have written it?
In a time of alternative facts and the loss of a shared sense of reality, A Foot is Not a Fish playfully illustrates the difference between what is true and what is not through absurd fun comparisons that every child—and parent—will instantly understand.
I’ve been a fan of horror stories since I was a kid. As an introverted and shy kid, I used to joke with my best friend about how I felt like a ghost and wished I had the power to be invisible. After I became a children’s book author/illustrator, I became fascinated with ghost picture books and started collecting them. Ghost picture books not only fulfilled my spooky necessities but also gave me warmth and heartfelt emotions.
The cover of this book immediately captured my attention. I love ghosts and quilts, so I knew this book was for me from the get-go.
I love the gloomy atmosphere of the artwork, in which the grey tone makes the little ghost who was a quilt stand out. The story itself is also so relatable and heartfelt. The ending and twist in the end give me a satisfactory feeling.
When you're a quilt instead of a sheet, being a ghost is hard! An adorable picture book for fans of Stumpkin and How to Make Friends with a Ghost.
Ghosts are supposed to be sheets, light as air and able to whirl and twirl and float and soar. But the little ghost who is a quilt can't whirl or twirl at all, and when he flies, he gets very hot.
He doesn't know why he's a quilt. His parents are both sheets, and so are all of his friends. (His great-grandmother was a lace curtain, but that doesn't really help…
As a humorous cozy mystery author, apparitions as characters are critically important members of my cast. I have introduced two ghosts—the dead wife and young daughter of one of the men in my protagonist’s life as continuing characters in my Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series. They serve as an important yet hysterically funny bridge that connects the main character’s past to her present life and creates an extra layer of conflict in her relationship with the widower and where she wants it to go.
Nothing tickles my funny bone more than the antics of a pampered princess who has to work like the rest of us if she wants to eat when the family fortune dries up. Pepper Martin takes the only job available as a cemetery tour guide–who knew such a creepy job existed?
After hitting her noggin on a gravestone, suddenly she sees dead people. I laughed out loud when a whacked Mafia Don “makes her an offer she can’t refuse” and threatens to haunt her until she hunts down his killers. If you’re like me and the image of Lucy Ricardo on the hunt for a mobster’s killer gets you giggling, this is the story for you.
Beautiful, smart, and chic, Pepper Martin never had to work a day in her life -- until her surgeon daddy was convicted of fraud, her wealthy fiancé took a powder, and the family fortune ran bone dry.
Suddenly desperate, the inexperienced ex-rich girl was forced to take the only job she could get: as a tour guide in a cemetery. But a grave situation took a turn for the worse when a head-on collision with a headstone left her with an unwanted ability to communicate with the disgruntled deceased . . . and now Pepper has…
Ever since we were kids, we associated the summer with voracious reading. We loved competing in those Summer Reading Challenges to see who could read the most while school was out. (Lauren often won; Rachel was a slower but equally enthusiastic reader.) As we grew up, we realized that a specific type of book exists that aligns with the summer mood–like a bikini, but make it literature. Summer reads can be emotional but not too heavy and contain moments of sadness without dragging us into the abyss. (For winter, we recommend the collected works of the Nobel Prize-winning Icelandic novelist Halldór Laxness.)
We have both been huge fans of Adelle Waldman since she came out with her whip-smart romantic satire, The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P, around a decade ago. Her follow-up, our last pick, was stunning to us, not only because it's so good but because it's inspiring to see how a writer doesn't have to get cornered in by the "brand" she unwittingly establishes when she publishes her debut.
This book is set a world away from the Brooklyn coffee shops and house parties that the Nathaniel P. literary hipsters frequent; it all takes place in a big box store in upstate New York called Town Square, which may as well be Target.
It makes you chuckle, think, and feel, largely due to its well-researched content. Waldman immersed herself in the world in which her new book is set, taking a job at Target while she was writing it.…
Every day at 3:55 a.m., members of Team Movement clock in for their shift at big-box store Town Square in a small upstate New York town. Under the eyes of a self-absorbed and barely competent boss, they empty the day's truck of merchandise, stock the shelves, and scatter before the store opens and customers arrive. Their lives follow a familiar if grueling routine, but their real problem is that Town Square doesn't schedule them for enough hours-most of them are barely getting by, even while working second or third jobs. When store manager Big Will announces he is leaving, the…
I teach Jewish studies to Jewish teens and have devoted my life to helping young people find meaningful the legacy that’s been given to us—and building bridges to the future; this is in the classroom as well as on the page. My book is a distillation of everything I love about being Jewish—wrapped in a story that many readers find deeply familiar. At the same time, I believe in planting the universal in the specific—and any reader ready to go on a journey can find themselves in Will Levine’s shoes.
I love this book for its humor, voice, and vivid and lovable characters. Goldie reminds me of the grandma I never had—determined, dry-witted, and unafraid to get involved in her granddaughter Maxie’s love life. Set in an assisted living facility full of quirky characters, this element of aging—the loneliness and the desperation—is both hilarious and universally tragic.
Maxie’s story, meanwhile, follows a delightful rom-com arc that mirrors and breaks the repetition of her grandmother’s adventure in love as she meets T-Jam, her grandmother’s eccentric driver. This book charmed me—brilliantly balancing comedy with themes of heritage, love, and legacy, l’dor v’dor.
Hilarious and surprising, this unapologetically Jewish story delivers a present-day take on a highly creative grandmother trying to find her Ph.D granddaughter a husband who is a doctor-with a yarmulke, of course.
Goldie Mandell is opinionated, assertive, and stuck in an Assisted Living Facility. But even surrounded by schleppers with walkers, pictures of sunrises, fancy fish tanks, and an array of daily activities to complement the tepid tea and stale cookies on offer, her salt-free plate is full. She's got a granddaughter to settle, an eager love interest named Harry to subdue, and precious memories of her happy marriage to…
I was born and brought up in the north of England. I have a degree in English and taught English Literature to older teenagers for many years. The period between 14 and 19 is an age group that has always fascinated me. It’s a time when people are accumulating experience and trying to understand themselves and their lives. The books I’ve chosen all put young people in challenging situations and excel at showing how they respond, handling, in sensitive and insightful ways, the moods and tensions of growing up. Most of my own novels have young heroes and heroines, although they’re read by people of all ages.
I love this book, a beautiful celebration of young love set in the summer 1997.
It’s easy to identify with Charlie Lewis, his failed school career and his shambolic home life. He meets the rich and privileged Fran Fisher, whose background is totally different from his. The contrast between them is beautifully drawn and I felt for Charlie as he tentatively moved towards a girl he feels is out of his reach. His insecurity is moving.
The Romeo & Juliet link which is obvious from the title is well handled, enriching without being intrusive. There’s a heart-rending sense of nostalgia that reminds you of what it’s like to be trying to find your feet as a teenager.
“A tale of first love that hits all the right notes . . . [it] just might be the sweetest book to brighten your late summer.” —The Washington Post
"Dazzles with wit.”—People
From the bestselling author of One Day comes a bittersweet and brilliantly funny coming-of-age tale about the heart-stopping thrill of first love—and how one summer can forever change a life.
Now: On the verge of marriage and a fresh start, thirty-eight year old Charlie Lewis finds that he can’t stop thinking about the past, and the events of one particular summer.
I was born and grew up in Seoul. My bestselling debut novel has been longlisted for the 2024 Women’s Prize for Fiction and the 2024 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize and shortlisted for the 2024 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. My book is inspired by my great-aunt, one of the oldest women who had escaped alone from North Korea. It is available from Harper Perennial in the U.S. and Virago in the UK. The novel’s translations continue to meet readers worldwide, including in Italy, Romania, Greece, Denmark, Spain, Switzerland, and South Korea.
I both love and hate Zenia as a heroine in this witty, page-turning literary fiction by Atwood. Zenia is one of the cleverest and the most malicious female protagonists I’ve ever known: she constantly deceives her friends with her kaleidoscopic lies; she screws money out of them, and she even steals their men.
Would I want to be friends with her in real life? Probably not. But as a literary character, she stuns and captivates me and allows me to ponder the female transgression that lurks in all of us.
Zenia is beautiful, smart and greedy, by turns manipulative and vulnerable, needy and ruthless; a man's dream and a woman"s nightmare. She is also dead. Just to make sure Tony, Roz andd Charis are there for the funeral. But five years on, as the three women share an indulgent, sisterly lunch, the unthinkable happens; 'with waves of ill will flowing out of her like cosmic radiation', Zenia is back...
4.5 billion years ago, Earth was forming - but nothing could have survived there…
From Cells to Ourselves is the incredible story of how life on earth started and how it gradually evolved from the first simple cells to the abundance of life around us today. Walk with dinosaurs, analyse…
I’m the tenth kid in my family. I can’t think of a single part of my personality that wasn’t defined by my interactions with my siblings, then later their partners, and then later their children. The thing about family is that, yes, it’s a source of stress and even trauma, but I’ve also found it the truest path to not just meaning in life but something like salvation. I love stories that put us at that tipping point, in part because I think most of us live there, whether we realize it or not.
I love this book because I don’t cry easily. Decades before the whole world knew Barbara Kingsolver as the Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of Demon Copperhead, I found a beat-up copy of this book at a thrift shop in Emmaus, Pennsylvania.
I bought it for a buck, and I’ve never spent a better dollar. I swooned to the simple story of Taylor, a teen fleeing home, and Turtle, the abandoned child who changes her life. The family they make is one of my favorite in all of literature.
The Bean Trees is bestselling author Barbara Kingsolver's first novel, now widely regarded as a modern classic. It is the charming, engrossing tale of rural Kentucky native Taylor Greer, who only wants to get away from her roots and avoid getting pregnant. She succeeds, but inherits a 3-year-old native-American little girl named Turtle along the way, and together, from Oklahoma to Tucson, Arizona, half-Cherokee Taylor and her charge search for a new life in the West.
Written with humour and pathos, this highly praised novel focuses on love and friendship, abandonment and belonging as Taylor, out of money and seemingly…
