School of The Dead

School of The Dead by Avi, 276 pages

Tony’s great uncle Charlie is a little odd, but when he comes to live with Tony’s family, Tony realizes he’s fun too. Uncle Charlie wants to communicate with the spirit world and Tony is willing to humor him.  When Uncle Charlie dies, Tony is devastated, but a little excited to move to San Francisco from Connecticut to go to Charlie’s old school, the Penda School.  Penda looks more like house since it was donated by Mrs. Penda years ago, after the death of her son, but why did Tony see faces in the windows on a Sunday?  Why is there a boy in his class that looks exactly like Mrs. Penda’s dead son?  And why does Tony keep seeing his Uncle Charlie everywhere?  A girl in Tony’s class, Jessica, thinks that he has been touched by death, and that he may be in danger.  She thinks they need to destroy the Penda Boy’s ghost, before something terrible happens.  This was a really good story for elementary students who like horror and ghost stories.  I would highly recommend it.