4.5 Stars

When Emmaline Beaumont’s father started building the ghost machine, she didn’t expect it to bring her mother back from the dead. But by locking himself in the basement to toil away at his hopes, Monsieur Beaumont has become obsessed with the contraption and neglected the living, and Emmaline is tired of feeling forgotten.

Nothing good has come from building the ghost machine, and Emmaline decides that the only way to bring her father back will be to make the ghost machine work…or destroy it forever.

MY THOUGHTS:

I received this book in exchange for my honest review.

Be prepared to cry! Lauren DeStefano has an incredible ability to tug at the heart with her stories, writing style and messages. Her first two books were just as emotional and beautifully written, I was very pleased to see that the third was the same. Her concepts are original and entertaining, right up to the end, filled with magic and an ethereal gentleness flowing with a lyrical quality that develops her characters realistically and favorably.

I find her books, although written for children, appeal to adults because of their content and messages. The topics are current and needed and the stories will leave you emotional but in a feel good sort or way. They will give you lots to ponder.

In this particular book, the conflict is death, what a person would do to bring back someone they’ve loved from the dead? The answer will astonish you. The price to pay will enthrall you and the resolution will leave you feeling satisfied. Be prepared for sadness, and grief being discussed. ( )

This is a great book for middle school age kids as it handled a difficult topic with a loving grace. There was something heartfelt, beautiful and visceral in the way Lauren DeStefano created characters the reader could develop an emotional attachment to along with showing the poignant turmoil that accompanies great loss in a person’s life. Beyond the obvious storyline I also thought it was sweet the way she wove practical and helpful advice on the mourning process that can be applied beyond the literary pages.

It provided an interesting commentary on the different ways parents versus kids handle grief and the responsibility we as parents have to not forget the living while mourning the dead.

This tearjerker may make your kid, as it did me, become an emotional mess but I think it’s an important topic and one that can open great dialogue between you and your kid. If you know someone who is dealing with grief it might be a good idea to give this to them so they have a different world to lose themselves in that will allow them to explore what they’re feeling in a safe environment.

It’s one of those stories that stays with you. ( )

Emmaline Beaumont's mother has passed away. Unfortunately, Emmaline's father has become fixated with building a machine that will bring Emmaline's mother's ghost back, and in doing so, he himself has forgotten about the living in his obsession with the dead, so in many ways Emmaline has lost both of her parents. The only people she can confide in are twins Gully and Oliver, her best friends in school. Yet for of their understanding and patience, Gully and Oliver are unable to fully understand Emmaline's loss as they have never lost someone so close to them as Emmaline's mother was to her. Her father's machine, however, may actually work, and it is then that Emmaline must decide whether the cost of operating the machine is worth the price paid, and will the twins help her in her decision, regardless of what that decision is?

Lauren DeStefano has created a beautiful and poignant story that I feel would be an important book for anyone to read who has recently (or not so recently) lost someone very close to them. DeStefano has a keen ability to cut to the quick of the emotions of loss and what that can feel like, especially for someone too young to have have lost a loved one. Her characters are not cliché and their feelings are quite real, and the story she has created feels honest and important. That's the best way I can describe it. A fan of her YA series The Chemical Garden Trilogy and The Interment Chronicles, I have not yet read her other two middle grade books, The Curious Tale of the In-Between and The Peculiar Night of the Blue Heart, and I think I'll be needing to rectify that soon.

I received a print ARC of this book from the publisher for a fair and honest review. ( )