Ferris by Kate DiCamillo

Title: Ferris

Author: Kate DiCamillo

Genre: Ghost story

Publisher: Walker Books

Published: 3^rd April 2024

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 240

Price: $19.99

Synopsis: The masterful Kate DiCamillo has outdone herself with a hilarious and achingly real love story about a girl, a ghost, a grandmother and growing up.

It’s the summer before fifth grade, and for Ferris Wilkey, it is a summer of sheer pandemonium. Her little sister, Pinky, has vowed to become an outlaw. Uncle Ted has left Aunt Shirley and, to Ferris’s mother’s chagrin, is holed up in the Wilkey basement to paint a history of the world. And Charisse, Ferris’s grandmother, has started seeing a ghost in the doorway to her room – which seems like an alarming omen given that she is feeling unwell. But the ghost is not there to usher Charisse to the Great Beyond. Rather, she has other plans – wild, impractical, illuminating plans. How can Ferris satisfy a spectre with Pinky terrorizing the town, Uncle Ted sending Ferris to spy on her aunt, and her father battling an invasion of raccoons?

As Charisse likes to say, “Every good story is a love story,” and Kate DiCamillo has written one for the ages: emotionally resonant and healing, showing the twice Newbery Medallist at her most playful, universal and profound.

~*~

Every good story is a love story. This refrain appears throughout the book as Ferris explores her summer before entering year five. But it’s no ordinary summer – it’s utter pandemonium in her family and she has no idea how to help as she watches her family falling apart. Younger sister Pinky is determined to become an outlaw. Uncle Ted has left Aunt Shirley to paint a history of the world in the Wilkey basement. And her grandmother, Cherisse, keeps seeing a ghost who wants the chandelier lit. So its up to Ferris to help everyone, satisfy a ghost and find out where the raccoons are.

Kate DiCamillo’s latest book is a family story, and a love story. Love for family. Love for words, and the love of two ghosts searching for each other. The love we have for ourselves, and the love that is all around us in the world. It shines a light on a family and their world in a small town. The setting isn’t explicitly modern or historical. In fact, there is no setting cemented apart from the season, so it feels like it could be taking place in any small town, and perhaps even in any decade. By not including technology, I feel that Kate has created a world that readers of all ages can relate to. A world where books, words, and libraries have power. And book where the story and the characters are driven by the power of imagination and not being dependant on technology for answers.

As a reader, I found this refreshing in a contemporary novel. It shows that it is possible to write a compelling novel without the presence of technology or technological references that could date the story. It’s about the characters and how they solve problems, how they use their brains and imaginations which makes it beautiful and compelling. It shows that a child’s world can be so much more, and contrasts Ferris – the good girl, who does what she is meant to do and is good friends with Billy Jackson, with Pinky -who I felt had a death wish of sorts – she wanted to show she had no regard for the rules in a summer where everything seems to be happening for the Wilkey family.

Life is not simple. It’s messy, twisty, and full of turns– the messy bits are everywhere. It’s something that we all go through, and Ferris shows one way of coping with life, one way of being part of a family with wit and whimsy, which made the book a joy for me to read. It is sensitive and thoughtful as it tugs at the heartstrings with Cherisse, her ghost, and Ferris, or having my heart in my mouth and sighing whenever Pinky got up to her shenanigans – she felt exhausting, but still just a kid who needed to be guided and helped. Overall, this heart-warming story is about family love, the magic of childhood and familial bonds as you embrace everything that life throws at you, and explores life as it as and as it can be – and the magic that makes it what it is.