Graphic novel about a girl and her little sister with cystic fibrosis. They move to Northern California to help Maya heal and get into a new environment that will help her CF. The two sisters find out that there are ghosts in their new town. Through this, Cat, the older sister, has to put aside her fears for Maya's sake and her own.

I really liked this book when I was younger and rereading it again was very fun. The art is beautiful and very well done! I would have this book for 4th graders up to 8th grade. I think this book is fairly easy to read with a nice digestible format. The story is a little more mature, but not too intense!

I always try to be aware of the intended audience for the book I'm reading- in this case, "Ghosts" is aimed at a middle school reading group. I've really tried to see this through the eyes of someone in that age range, because as a person in her twenties, I read this probably more critically than a 13 year-old would. And that's not to say it's bad; in fact, I thought it was quite the opposite.
"Ghosts" has a wonderful melancholy yet lovely design, a moving storyline, two young sisters with whom I fell in love, and a great heap of cultural and racial diversity. I really think Raina outdid herself this time. "Ghosts" has a deep message about life and death, and about breathing- both medically and figuratively.
The reason I mention keeping in mind the intended audience is because (again, as someone older) I thought Telemeigers backgrounds in her artwork in some places could use more attention. Additionally, I always want the characters to say JUST a little bit more. When Maya speaks about her concerns for Cat, I thought that conversation should have gone on for just another page or two.
Again, this things are fairly minor in the grand scheme of "Ghosts". It really is a beautiful little graphic novel, and I think readers of ANY age will be able to take something from it. I know I did. ( )

Representation: Biracial main characters, side Asian and Black characters
Trigger warnings: Near-death experiences, death of a grandmother, blood depiction, physical injury, hospitalisation
Score: Seven points out of ten.
This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.

One of the two libraries I go to gave this away for free so I picked it up and now I own it and I didn't know what to expect at first since graphic novels can be a hit or miss for me and I've never read from this author before but I'm glad I read this since I enjoyed it, almost everything was executed well, there was even character development so where do I even begin? It starts with the main characters Catrina or Cat for short and her sister Maya and Cat has to move to Bahia de la Luna in California much to her dismay but that was to help Maya who turns out to have cystic fibrosis. I've heard of that condition before but I never got around to learning what it really is and this book was a starter and I might research it further later on but anyway Cat and Maya try to adjust to this new place they're living in and everything looks normal at first until Cat meets a tour guide and he said there were ghosts living in the town; initially no one believed him however only a few pages there were ghosts hence the title. Something shocking happened to Maya when Cat discovers the ghosts first then Maya then they take her breath unintentionally so someone hospitalised her but then she turns out in a sorrier state than before. Wow. Now Maya needs constant oxygen which was sad to see. At least it didn't dampen her spirits in any way so there's that and I liked the character development of Cat and her dynamic with her sister, sometimes it was imperfect but it was the author's choice to make it more realistic, that's understandable. Toward the end of the book a significant event happened called the Day of the Dead where the ghosts get to meet their relatives. Cat could enjoy this since she previously overcame her fear of ghosts ending this on a high note. ( )

Simply brilliant. ( )

Loved this story. I read it with my daughter (6) who has cystic fibrosis, and she loved that the story has a character she could relate to. The message of "take a breath" is a wonderful one. ( )