Olive and the Backstage Ghost

June 1, 2017
Olive Preiss finds sanctuary on the stage but soon finds there is often more than meets the eye in the theater.Like many young women, white, brown-haired Olive dreams of success on the stage. There is only one problem: whenever her mother is in the room she chokes. After a particularly awful audition, Olive runs off through the city. As rain clouds roll in, she seeks refuge in the Maudeville, an old but elegant and well-preserved theater. The lovely stage compels her to break out in song. Unbeknownst to Olive, the mysterious proprietor of the establishment is listening in and immediately offers Olive a starring role in her upcoming vaudeville review. Olive almost immediately feels deep affinity with the diverse cast and even the friendly ghosts that call the Maudeville home. The theater becomes her escape from her stressful home life. Yet when young, Latino vagabond Felix warns her not to return, she begins to see that there may be more to her beloved theater than meets the eye. This dark, grief-filled tale is reminiscent of Stephen King's It with a dash of Cirque du Soleil and is likely to appeal to readers who resonate with Olive's feelings of escape and refuge found on stage. Whether readers are enraptured as Olive or dubious as Felix, the Maudeville's mysteries will captivate them until the end. (Fantasy. 8-12)

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Starred review from June 1, 2017
Grades 5-8 *Starred Review* Don't be fooled by that cute cartoon cover: this is a true-blue ghost story. Olive Preiss wants to be a star. More accurately, Olive Preiss wants to sing; her mother, a former theater darling now past her prime, pushes her daughter to be a star, but ever since Olive's father died and their money dried up, her mother's been cold and critical. After a disastrous theater camp audition, Olive stumbles across Maudeville, a glamorous, old theater, where owner Maude Devore offers her a starring role in a new show. Olive grows close with her new castmates, an eclectic group of misfit children that Maude has taken in, not caring that some aren't exactly humanphantoms appear and disappear, a pair of severed hands plays the piano. Still, something dark lurks at the heart of this theater, and Olive is closing in on an uneasy truth about the place she's begun to call home. Richly drawn and occasionally melancholy, this is a ghost story with a timeless feel, featuring a city gone to seed, a decaying theater, and a family falling apart. It's a haunting and ethereal tale in the vein of Cornelia Funke's The Thief Lord (2002). Nods to Edgar Allan Poe make it atmospheric, and Olive herself, a lonely heroine with ghosts in her past, gives it soul.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2018
Set in an unnamed city experiencing economic hardships, Olive escapes her controlling stage mother to star in a magical show at an old theater filled with ghosts. Although many readers may find the ending predictable, there's satisfaction in the well-paced suspense as the plot hurtles toward a potentially fatal opening night. Near-death escapes and evil ghosts keep this story in the just-a-tad-scary realm.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)