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Ophie’s Ghosts

Justina Ireland

Ages 10–14

Readers rate it 4.4 (11 on Hardcover)

263 pages · Released May 18, 2021

Content report card

Ophie’s Ghosts parent’s guide: what’s inside

High confidence

Sexual content

LGBTQ+ themes

Substance use

What it offers

A note for parents

Ophie's Ghosts is a historical ghost story set in 1920s Pittsburgh that grapples directly with racial violence and racism in post-Civil War America. While the supernatural elements and scary moments are age-appropriate for mature middle-grade readers, the book's historical foundation involves racial terrorism (implied violence against Ophie's family and community). The story rewards empathy, courage, and justice-seeking, and offers meaningful representation of Black characters navigating systemic racism. It's best for readers 10 and up who can handle historical racism as a plot element and some genuine scares.

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From the publisher

Winner of the 2001 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction The New York Times bestselling author of Dread Nation makes her middle grade debut with a sweeping tale of the ghosts of our past that won’t stay buried, starring an unforgettable girl named Ophie. Ophelia Harrison used to live in a small house in the Georgia... Winner of the 2001 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction The New York Times bestselling author of Dread Nation makes her middle grade debut with a sweeping tale of the ghosts of our past that won’t stay buried, starring an unforgettable girl named Ophie. Ophelia Harrison used to live in a small house in the Georgia countryside. But that was before the night in November 1922, and the cruel act that took her home and her father from her. Which was the same night that Ophie learned she can see ghosts. Now Ophie and her mother are living in Pittsburgh with relatives they barely know. In the hopes of earning enough money to get their own place, Mama has gotten Ophie a job as a maid in the same old manor house where she works. Daffodil Manor, like the wealthy Caruthers family who owns it, is haunted by memories and prejudices of the past—and, as Ophie discovers, ghosts as well. Ghosts who have their own loves and hatreds and desires, ghosts who have wronged others and ghosts who have themselves been wronged. And as Ophie forms a friendship with one spirit whose life ended suddenly and unjustly, she wonders if she might be able to help—even as she comes to realize that Daffodil Manor may hold more secrets than she bargained for.

Shelved under

  • Juvenile Fiction
  • Fantasy
  • Young Adult
  • Horror
  • racial violence
  • Racism

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ISBN 9780062915856 · HarperCollins

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