Introduction by Heavy Medal Award Committee Member Bina Ponce
Horror is a genre that is often easily dismissed across several media. Unfairly, in my opinion. As with every genre, some spooky offerings can be over-the-top or formulaic fun. But others can be Newbery winners like THE GRAVEYARD BOOK. I believe Anne Ursu’s NOT QUITE A GHOST falls into this category.
Violet just started middle school and is worried about things not being the same with her friends Paige and Ally. To complicate things, Violet’s family just moved into a new house, and she’s stuck with the room in the attic. You know where this is going – Violet starts to have nightmares in which the vines on the strange wallpaper in her room seem to move and transfigure into eerie shapes.
“The thing that was very much the shape of a person was standing behind the vines, facing Violet.
It was perfectly still. Just part of the wallpaper.
And then, the thing turned its head” (205).
It is at this point that Anne Ursu captures the true essence of horror: any monster or supernatural phenomena in a well-done work of horror reflects something deeper happening to our protagonist. This is why NOT QUITE A GHOST excels thematically. The voice Violet hears coming from the wallpaper is the personification of every negative thing she believes about herself. Violet is ill. Seriously ill and weak – and to make matters worse, the people she thought would help her don’t believe her. At her lowest point, the voice in the wallpaper demands Violet’s body and taunts her, cruelly saying that she’s only using her body to lie in bed anyway. Internalizing everything the doctors and Paige have said, Violet believes the voice:
“[Her] body was useless, a lump. She was useless, a sack of bones and parts. And no one could figure out what was wrong with her.” (236).
It’s with the help of her new friend Will that she’s able to defeat the voice, and with her mother’s persistence that they find a doctor that finally takes Violet seriously. NOT QUITE A GHOST excels in its characterization, as Violet goes through so many trials to learn that she is worthy of being heard and to accept that sometimes letting go of old friends and cherishing new connections is best. The setting is also a standout for me – I said “NOPE” the minute Violet set foot in the house on Katydid Street and was relegated to the attic with the weird wallpaper. But I’m curious to know what everyone thinks about the development of other characters, like the voice and how it compares to The Voice in LOUDER THAN HUNGER, and the plot development. Do we think the story moved along at an appropriate pace? Were we satisfied with the action and resolution? Looking forward to reading everyone’s thoughts!
Heavy Medal Award Committee members and others are now invited to discuss this book further in the Comments section below. Let the Mock Newbery discussion begin!