Module 9-Mystery

Dying to Meet You (43 Old Cemetery Road Series #1)

Klise, K. (2010). Dying to meet you. 43 old cemetery road. New York: Houghton Mifflin.

Summary

Children's author I.B. Grumply hasn't written anything in 20 years.  Trying to overcome his writer's block and get his new mystery book to his publisher, he rents an old Victorian mansion in Ghastly, Illinois for a summer.  When he moves in he finds that a young boy, Seymour Hope, lives there while his parents are in Europe for the summer.  Unhappy about this, Mr. Grumply writes complaints to his lawyer and to the realtor, but the contract was signed and Seymour stays.  However, the boy, his cat, and the author are not the only inhabitants of the Spence Mansion.  The house's long dead builder, Olive C. Spence, still remains.  With the help of Seymour and Olive, Grumply overcomes his writer's block and also his grumpiness.

Impression

This was a fantastic story!  I read it in about 45 minutes and could not put it down.  It is written in the form of letters between the characters and newspaper articles form the town of Ghastly.  All of the characters have names that are puns like the realtor Anita Sale and the publisher Paige Turner.  Humor is ever present and there's also a happy ending.  It is truly an easy and fun read and I can't wait to share it with my students as well as the rest of the series!

Review

Grades 3-6. This epistolary graphic mystery may take genre-bending into the realm of genre-pretzeling, but it still delivers an unlikely story with a great deal of likability. The famed children’s author (who despises kids, naturally) Ignatius B. Grumply moves into an old Victorian mansion to finish his latest book. Turns out a young boy abandoned by his parents lives upstairs, and a ghost named Olive lives in the cupola, making for an uncomfortably full house. The entire interaction between the three (and a handful of supporting cast members) takes place in their written communiqués, a conceit that falls apart under close scrutiny but if taken at face value allows for a surprisingly jaunty read. Given that a bulk of the physical space is taken up by letterheads, this thin book can be read in a flash, and even though it is the first in the 43 Old Cemetery Road series, it stands on its own and features a touching conclusion. Maps of the house, portraits of the characters, and the boy’s drawings add a nice layer to the mildly self-referential whole.

Booklist. (2009). 105(15).

Library Use

1. This is just a great book to recommend to students who want a fun and easy read!