A Friend for Ghost

K-Gr 3–Friendship isn’t easy—especially for Ghost. Reminiscent of Mac Barnett and Christian Robinson’s Leo: A Ghost Story, this lovely title features Ghost, who is lonely and in search of a friend. “Always alone—in the crowd.” On one special day Ghost makes a friend (a red balloon) and they share everything, until the expected disaster takes place and this friend drifts away. The emotional journey of Ghost is captured through expressive illustrations of Ghost and Ghost’s surroundings. Ghost does not have a personal pronoun which creates a wonderful opening for classroom or story-hour discussion about the use of gender pronouns and gender stereotypes. Kaufman’s detailed and action-packed illustrations appear to be watercolors and do not overwhelm the relatively simple story of the universal search for friendship, and the opportunity for finding friends when and where it’s least expected.