Ghoulia by Barbara Cantini (Arc Review)

Summary:

Summary from GoodReads.com:

“Ghoulia lives in Crumbling Manor with her Auntie Departed and spends most of her time playing with Tragedy, her beloved albino greyhound. But things aren’t as easy as they seem for this little zombie girl—all she wants is a real friend. She tries to venture past the manor’s walls, but she can’t hide her pale green skin or the deep purple circles under her eyes. The other children will be afraid of her, and no one will want to be her friend. But when Halloween rolls around, Ghoulia hatches a brilliant plan. All the other, ordinary children will be dressed up like monsters, so Ghoulia can go out into the town and be entirely herself. In the end, all the kids realize that Ghoulia is (almost) just like them and learn that friendship can come in many forms.”

Review:

This is an adorable children’s picture book about Ghoulia, a little girl zombie who just wants to make friends, and it is just as cute as it sounds.

If you have children you are going to want to get this one for a Halloween read. The artwork is bright and colourful. It just drips with beautiful Halloween colours and everything is drawn in a sketchy, Tim Burton-eque style. It is gorgeous. Just the thing kids need to curl up with to get in the Halloween spirit or after a night of trick or treating.

The message in the story is pretty great too. Making friends can be scary, especially if you are a little different. It is great to follow Ghoulia on her adventure to make friends with other children, even if she is a zombie. It is just a sweet message through and through, that everything isn’t as scary as you make it out to be, especially socialising.

I just have one question though: If Ghoulia is a zombie, what if she gets peckish around her new friends?

TLDR:

• A cute Halloween themed kids’ book
• Lots of bright seasonal artwork with colourful characters.
• A great message about how making friends isn’t as scary as it seems in your head.
• Relatable child main character, even though she is a zombie.

Rating:

4 out of 5 Skulls 

I want to thank Netgalley and Amulet Books for sending me this book to review.