Common Sense Media Review
By Mary Eisenhart
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Heart, suspense abound in spooky middle school ghost story.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 9+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
As ARCHIMANCY opens, 11-year-old Cordelia Liu isn't too happy at being uprooted from California and moved to New Hampshire due to her dad's job. And she's even less happy about Shadow School, her new middle school, which instead of being in a normal school building is in an old Victorian mansion built by the late architect Elias Sparrow. She's not wrong to be creeped out, as she soon realizes the place is packed with ghosts, and only she and her classmate Benji can see them. Not only that, the ghosts -- especially the crying little boy -- seem to need help. But as Cordelia, Benji, and their brilliant, shy friend Agnes try to assist, they have to work their way around adults who don't believe in ghosts, ghosts preying on other ghosts, and difficulties in sorting out whom to trust.
Is It Any Good?
J.A. White's series opener about tween friends in a haunted middle school features plenty of imaginatively creepy moments, engaging characters, and mystery. As tweens Cordelia, Benji, and Agnes delve into the past to try to help the distressed ghostly people they meet, there's suspense, googling, and quite a few poignant moments as stories unfold. There's also plenty of affectionate, supportive, no-nonsense parenting and relatable character development as Cordelia starts feeling more at home in New Hampshire. Archimancy features a modest Hogwarts-style roster of characters we'll be seeing a lot more of as the Shadow School series continues.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about ghost stories like Archimancy: Shadow School, Book 1.Why do you think stories about ghosts are so popular, and always have been? Do you have any favorites? Do you like scary stories, or do you prefer the friendly ghost type?
Have you ever had to move away from the place you lived and the school you went to and start over somewhere else? How did you feel? Was it fun? Scary?
The kids in Archimancy start out not having a lot in common but wind up being great friends anyway. Do you and your friends share a lot of the same interests, or are you into different things?
Book Details
- Author: J.A. White
- Genre: Fantasy
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy , Friendship , Great Boy Role Models , Great Girl Role Models , History , Middle School , Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
- Publication date: August 27, 2019
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 8 - 12
- Number of pages: 304
- Available on: Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
- Last updated: June 5, 2022
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