Lenny Among Ghosts

by Frank Maria Reifenberg

translated by Rachel Reynolds

Lenny Among Ghosts is a fun book for young readers or technically any age. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters and plot about saving the castle.

Quite a bit of the story is debating whether Lenny lived or died when saving a toddler from an accident. During the book, Lenny experiences many blackouts and concussions. A reader could wonder if his entire experience at his new school for ghosts, Shadowsnout Castle, is a near-death experience or if he’s genuinely going through the tribulations of being unexpectedly dead in a strange castle with peculiar beings.

Eventually, Lenny meets a living girl named Polly from the other side of the moat. She tells him a fantastical tale that he doesn’t believe about the castle belonging to her mother, but they couldn’t afford the taxes. She and her mother come from a long line of bakers who make the best apple cakes in all the land. It feels like a colorful detail, but it becomes important at the end.

Summary:

As a teaching tool, the premise of making friends with oddballs isn’t the deepest message. The historical castle is under threat of being demolished in order for a faux castle hotel and golf course to be built for modern society and commercialization. This is where some social lessons could be learned. Is it worth saving a crumbling castle? Should readers feel sorry for Polly’s mother who couldn’t afford such a huge inheritance? Does the story make light of death?

Rating: 5 stars

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AmberUnmasked.com and Vodka O'Clock Podcast. Author of The Farrah Wethers Mysteries, comic book short stories, prose, and non-fiction. Cosplayer and figure model.