The Phantom Isles
by Stephen Alter

    THE PHANTOM ISLES by Stephen Alter
    Category:  Paranormal
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 6+
    Release Date:  1/23/07
    Publisher:  Bloomsbury
    Reviewed by:  Carrie Spellman
    Rating:  5 Stars


    Late one night Ming, Courtney, and Orion sneak into the town library to find a very curious book.  The Compleat
    Necromancer contains a spell that can supposedly conjure the ghosts of the dead.  The friends perform the spell
    and... nothing happens.  Or so it seems.

    The next day Alma, the librarian, notices books out of place.  Stranger still is the face that looks out at her when
    she opens one of them.  It seems to materialize on the page, and it appears to be looking right at her!  And it's not
    the only face stuck in a book.

    Slowly a mystery comes to the surface.  It seems to center around a place called Ilhas dos Fantasmas, and a
    professor who went to live there for awhile a long time ago.  If Ming, Courtney, Orion, and Alma can solve the
    mystery, they might be able to free the ghosts from their books.  But, the clock is ticking, and the books might be
    in greater danger than any of them realize.

    This is such a fun book, and such an original idea!  I love that it tells the stories of the ghosts, as well as has their
    faces on the page.  It makes the story so much more vivid.  Plus it has a crazy teacher, who at first is almost funny
    then turns creepy.  It's the fun kind of scary book that is a great story for anyone.  It also seems like just the kind
    of book that parents could read to their kids.