Ollie Oxley and the Ghost: The Search for Lost Gold

Gr 3 Up—Twelve-year-old Ollie Oxley is the new kid in town again. His mother has a new job at the local theater in Granite City, CA, and Ollie and his sister DeeDee have to start over in an unfamiliar place. Granite City seems like every other town they've lived in until Ollie realizes that the boy sitting in the back of the class at school is actually a 200-year-old ghost named Teddy. When a local bully buys the theater and threatens to shut it down for good, Ollie and Teddy try to track down an old treasure in order to save his mother's job. Though this is a story about ghosts, it never veers into scary territory; Teddy is kind and helpful, and even the less friendly ghosts in town are more annoying than menacing. The book weaves together a historical mystery with a contemporary school story about bullies and class elections, and though the villains are over-the-top and one-dimensional, the conclusion is still satisfying and surprising, and may be particularly exciting to children with an interest in American history. Because of its simple plot and basic themes, this book would be particularly suitable for younger readers who are ready to move beyond chapter books.