The Ghost Collector by Allison Mills

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Ghost Collector by Allison Mills Kate Quealy-Gainer, Assistant Editor Mills, Allison The Ghost Collector. Annick, 2019 [192p] Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-77321-296-8 $18.95 Paper ed. ISBN 978-1-77321-295-1 $9.95 E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-77321-298-2 $8.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 4-6 For a sixth-grader, Shelly is surprisingly comfortable around death, since she accompanies her Cree grandmother when the old woman is hired to dispel spirits from people’s houses. After her mother is killed in a car accident, a grieving Shelly assumes that her mother’s ghost will show up. Mom doesn’t, however, and as the days go by with no sign of her, Shelly begins to wander their town, bringing restless spirits home and convincing them to stay with her instead of moving on. While Mills, who is Cree herself, does not cite specific Indigenous customs as part of Shelly and her grandmother’s ghost hunting, she does dispel the notion of the magical Native with Grandma’s wry pragmatism and self-awareness. There’s an uneasy and keenly felt tension, with Shelly balancing herself between grief and hope until she finally falls into a frantic anger that ultimately leads to a much-needed breakdown. The ghosts aren’t so much the spooky kind as they are commentary on the different ways by which people deal with loss, and Shelly’s failed attempts to find her mother illustrate that there is no quick fix to grief. Fans of family drama will appreciate this poignantly haunting tale. Copyright © 2019 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois