Before our most recent trip to Tobago, I picked up a few books at the library for pleasure reading. One of them was Ghosts of Greenglass House, by Kate Milford. I didn’t realize till we arrived at our destination that the book I had picked was actually the second in a series. I was already into it, and there were too many characters for me to set it down if I ever hoped to finish it. I kept reading. I planned to get the first book out of the library when I got home.

The Ghosts of Greenglass House was a great read. It took me a while to get through it. The rich vocabulary and fairly complex storyline mean that it isn’t the type of book you can just blow through unless you don’t mind missing some details. My only complaint was that I had trouble keeping track of the characters throughout the book. I never felt like I had a good mental picture to draw on for each character mentioned.

Since I enjoyed The Ghosts of Greenglass House, I thought I would start Greenglass House with my older girls as a read aloud, with the plan of re-reading the second book with them when I finished it. Alas, it was not to be. We only made it to chapter three. The girls were sufficiently interested in the story, and in fact one of them begged me to continue. I just couldn’t make myself do it.

The trouble is, Book Two was much better. While Greenglass House contains some of the easy, natural dialogue and lovely descriptive language of the second book, I felt these came in glimpses rather than being characteristic of the whole story. Also, a big red flag for me, about 8 characters are introduced in quick succession in the first few chapters. It was dizzying and difficult to keep up.

Both books would have benefited from a simple addition: A little character guide at the beginning or end of the book. I imagine it accompanied by quirky head and shoulders line drawings of the characters in little oval frames. I could see them being along the lines of Brett Helquist, illustrator of The Series of Unfortunate Events. Each character would have a included a brief description – just the most important details as a quick reference.

And lastly, the author, after writing such a good second book, would have taken her now-honed craft, and gone back to the first book and made it right.

I recommend The Ghosts of Greenglass House, and despite its references to the original title, it works as a stand-alone. I found the first book not to be worth the trouble.

After I returned this book to the library, it turned out it had water damage (apparently caused by one of the kids). When faced with having to pay to replace the book, I decided to keep it. Maybe, I’ll try it again, if only to get my money’s worth.

Do you read kid books for pleasure? I have always loved kids’ books, and never stopped reading them. I remember an afternoon in my college library curled up in the basement in the children’s lit section. I was pleasantly surprised to read an article in a recent Reader’s Digest about The Special Joy of Reading Children’s Books Through Grown-up Eyes. Although I’ve never felt guilty about enjoying books written for children, I didn’t really realize it was a thing, and it felt oddly wonderful to find out that it is.