Jasmine is Haunted is an excellent Middle Grade novel that uses spooky ghosts as a way to explore grief and processing trauma. It also includes a non-binary side character, which is always exciting to find for this age range because it's infrequent! (hint- Mark Oshiro is a great resource for other MG books featuring non-binary and queer characters)

Jasmine's dad died suddenly 4 years ago and since then she and her mom have moved a LOT. And following her to every house is a creepy, shadowy ghost. Now she's starting at a new school and makes new friends after joining the GSA club. Friends who secretly investigate the paranormal! It's a charming book that also tackles heavy topics with compassion and an age appropriate blend of humor and seriousness. Definitely worth a read.

The audiobook is narrated by the incomparable Vico Ortiz who does a fantastic job. Love that they were picked for this! A perfect book to have on your radar for fall if you are a teacher, parent, or librarian. I received an audio review copy of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

4.5 stars

Ever since her Papi died, Jasmine has had a ghost problem. A problem that has really interfered with her ability to make friends. And her and her mami's ability to stay in one place for too long. But for this most recent move, Jasmine is determined to make normal friends. To lead a normal life. But the universe has different ideas.

At her new school, Jasmine meets Bea and Jorge, who make up the Gay Straight Alliance at her new school. Turns out, they're already obsessed with hunting the supernatural. When Jasmine tells them about her ghost, they're excited to help. But the three quickly learn that they might just possibly be in over their heads.

Thanks to Tor and NetGalley for an advanced copy of Jasmine is Haunted by Mark Oshiro to review! Mark Oshiro is definitely an auto-read author for me, and their middle grade is excellent. Some of my favorite middle grade books, honestly! If you're into the supernatural and ghost hunting, you'll love the story Oshrio has spun in this one.

From the beginning, Jasmine feels lost. Since there's been a ghost haunting her, it's been hard for her to make any friends. However, it's the supernatural that helps her to find new friends at her new school. Bea and Jorge, though cautious at first, welcome Jasmine into the fold. Through the three of them, they make a little community in tune with the supernatural. I loved the way both things went hand in hand throughout the story.

The way that Oshiro writes the ghosts felt like a fresh take on the idea, especially with Jasmine's family history. There's a bit of a mystery at the core of the plot, tyring to figure out why exactly Jasmine is seeing these dark ghosts. The idea of ghosts is also woven into Jasmine's culture, and it's very well written.

In addition to being about the supernatural, this book is also about healing from losing someone you love. All of the characters are connected by loss in some way, and they all need each other to help move forward. It also shows how building community can help with the grieving process.

All in all, if you're looking for a middle grade ghost story for spooky season, definitely pick this one up!

Thank you to Tor Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of "Jasmine is Haunted" by Mark Oshiro in exchange for an honest review.

Jasmine Garza is haunted. No one else realizes it, but it's true, and it's ruining her life. The strange haunting disrupts her life to the point where she struggles to make friends and she and mother are forced to move often. It's been like this since her father died in a terrible accident. Now facing yet another new school in yet another new neighborhood, Jasmine is lost, tired, and afraid.

Things start to change, though, when she joins the GSA club at school. (GSA stands for Gay Supernatural Alliance.) There, she meets Bea and Jorge, fellow LGBTQ students who happen to be obsessed with tracking down the supernatural. After some tentative and secretive conversations, Jasmine confides in them and Bea and Jorge join in her quest for answers.

But things get worse before they get better. Until now, the haunting was disruptive but suddenly the haunting incidents are happening everywhere. In her new home, at school, and at Jorge's home too. When Jasmine finally confesses everything to her mother and aunt, she learns more about her family history but even that only helps a little. It will take everyone - her mother and aunt, Bea's parents, Jorge's parents, the school librarian, the next door neighbor, the neighborhood fruit vendor and a street musician - EVERYONE to finally solve the mystery of Jasmine's haunting and help her find some peace.

It's a fantastic story. The haunting provides a framework for discussing bigger issues: how grief affects memory, friendships, and family relationships. It's at times scary and thrilling, at times melancholy. The conclusion is plausible and satisfying. Jasmine, her family, and her friends, are all wonderful and relatable; they're likeable despite their flaws and mistakes. "Jasmine is Haunted" is framed well for the intended audience; it's all about middle schoolers who are starting to step into their own independence but still need the assist from their parents.

Happily, the central conflict is NOT related to many of the characters being LGBTQ. While central to the story in that this group of kids is figuring out their identities, it's not the source of fear or pain for anyone. It's simply the way things are and that is such a relief.

Highly recommend this story for readers who want a middle grade ghost story that ends well and anyone looking for a story where a community comes together to save the day. It's just so, so, so good.

Oshiro is an auto-read author for me, and I love middle grade horror/supernatural stuff, so of course I had to pick this up!

It was exactly what I wanted. I love and relate to the main character, who has been haunted for years now and is getting pretty fed up with the it! But then she meets and joins her school’s Gay Supernatural Alliance (!!!). Everyone in this book is queer — the 3 leads, Jasmine’s mom, her new friend Jorge’s dads, the teachers…it’s amazing.

This is both cozy and spooky. Perfect for late summer or fall. And I cried sooo much at the end.
[slight spoiler] I love how they actually get the parents involved. Intergenerational supernatural coalition!

My only complaint is the friendship stuff is a little over-telegraphed and repetitive. But it’s also really sweet! I love the resolution at the end.

It comes out October 1! Thanks so much to Netgalley for the arc.

This starts as a pretty standard middle grade book, but turns into something richer. Jasmine is starting at a new school, is bad at making friends, her single mom is trying but not doing what Jasmine needs, and so on. And Jasmine is being pestered by a ghost, of course. We get some slight goofiness with the Gay Supernatural Alliance (secret name of the GSA).

But beyond this pretty typical stuff, we find that a lot of people are dealing with (or not dealing with) loss in their lives. Some of them are chasing ghosts and some are avoiding them, but they are all haunted in different ways. This makes it an entirely different, and better, kind of book.

Tor Publishing was kind enough to provide me with an advanced reading copy via Netgalley for an honest review.

For being a book with such a focus on death and grief, it’s surprising not overly depressing or heavy for the most part. There are certain scenes that are very hard or emotional, but still done in a way that is appropriate for middle school readers.

I loved the representation throughout the book and especially that Bea’s pronouns were handled really well.

I don’t typically read middle school aged books or many horror/tension filled book, but overall I did enjoy it! I would absolutely read more by this author in the future.

thank you netgalley for this ARC! I'm SOBBING this was so cute and so sweet and explored the long term effects of grief really well and just !!! I loved it! I loved the queer rep! I loved the grief/mental health rep! I loved the spooky vibes and supportive families and friends and adults in general. This will be great for young YA and upper MG and anyone who wants to read a lantinx spooky ghost story about family and grief and friendship.

This was cute, but that's the most I can say about it.

It's very easy to empathize with Jasmine. She's navigating grief and middle school friendships while being haunted, and Oshiro does a good job in showing how badly these things affect her. She gets mad, she is constantly confused, and she doesn't know how to talk to the adults around her, specifically her avoidant mom, about it. Jasmine really felt like a fully realized protagonist.

I also really liked how Oshiro portrayed Jasmine's relationships. Between her growing friendship with the GSA and the adults eventually getting involved, Jasmine had a great support system by the end of the book. I really like element in fantasy YA where adults do get involved and help their kid in need; it grounds the story closer to reality while providing good parental/adult figure representation for the kids reading this.

One thing that I didn't like was the story's pacing. Despite the book's ~250 page length, the story takes the slow approach in order to build up the characters and setting. Normally, I'd like that, but it got repetitive by the halfway point. Additionally, the explanation of the paranormal was given at the second to last chapter, and it was way too easily resolved for it to be emotionally satisfying. I won't say what it was, but I just found it kind of bland.

All in all, this was a good book, but the slow, repetitive pace and climax were lacking for me, personally.

Jasmine has a big problem, actually two. One she is haunted and he other is no one believes her. Until she moves and finds new friends, and these friends believe in ghosts and are trying to find one to catch. The adventure begins there, your going to love what comes next.
This is a really good book about finding what you need when you need it more than anything. Jasmine had given up on making friends, so she hadn’t planned on making any in her new school but than she found the two best friends she could have possibly chosen, that showed up at the right time. I loved this book and any one interested in ghosts and finding them and equipment used to find them will love this book too. I really hope there will be more in this series

Jasmine and her mother have moved multiple times and yet a ghost continues to haunt Jasmine. At her newest school, Kingsley Middle School, Jasmine finally makes friends and sets out to get rid of the ghost that has been haunting her. This book was a very simple read, and while I enjoyed the storyline between Jasmine and her friends, I was left wanting more with the relationship between Jasmine and her mother. The story includes references to the LGBTQ+ community. As an elementary librarian, this book is probably not one that I would recommend to my students, but it would be appropriate for middle schoolers looking for a light read.

I loved this one!! Such a beautiful way to discuss difficult topics and includes important life lessons for people of all ages. I would recommend this to anyone!

2.5 rounded up. This book was just ok for me. There were certain aspects of the book that I just don’t feel are age appropriate, example messing with ouija boards and tarot cards. At that age, the concept of repercussions from using things such as this, are not quite there I guess you could say. I love that it touched on grief and how to move forward. Overall, as a mother of a kid in this age group, I wouldn’t recommend

I really enjoyed this story of grief and moving on and finding community who understands. This was intense and while I didn’t necessarily consider it scary, there is a lot of emotional stuff happening. Learning all the different stories of loss those around Jasmine have experienced and her coming into her own was so emotionally good. I really loved her friendship with Bea and Jorge and the community she was able to find and build after moving this fourth time. A really great story of grief, I’m so glad this book exists.

Thank you, NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group | Starscape books for this advanced reader's copy. This was a fantastic book about grief. Jasmine has been haunted ever since her Papi died. Like a literal ghost has been following her for years now. But no one will believe her. Now Jasmine and her mami just moved and she is determined to fit and make friends. Jasmine meets Bea and Jorge at the middle school's Gay Straight Alliance group. Bea and Jorge are already obsessed with the supernatural so when they hear about Jasmine's ability to see ghosts, they are excited and thrilled to help her. This was a great book with representation and how to deal with grief.

Thank you #NetGalley for the digital ARC of this book Jasmine is Haunted. This book is a poignant journey for a young girl, her family, and her friends. While I was slightly confused over the timeline at the beginning the rest of the book was very easy to follow. This book tackles the hard topic of grief and how people handle it at different stages in their life. Overall, this was a great middle grade read!

I started out really liking this story, until the author brought in the Tarot cards and Ouija board.. In my thinking this is not the type of content our youth should be influenced by. I honestly believe it can be damaging and have a very negative effect on our children.

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book. There were a few disjointed sections in the beginning, particularly the transition from the first to the second chapter, which left me scratching my head, but after that I liked it a lot. I appreciated the Latinx main characters and the subtle and age-appropriate LGBTQ+ themes. I teach elementary through 4th grade and felt this was a little too scary for this age group, but if I taught middle school I would recommend it, and will share the title with my MS colleagues.

Mark Oshiro's "Jasmine is Haunted" is an emotional exploration of grief and identity with the supernatural as the vehicle. The novel follows Jasmine, a teenager grappling with the recent loss of her father, who moves with her mother to a new town and into a house with a mysterious past. Jasmine is a complex protagonist: she is struggling with her grief, confronting the eerie occurrences in her new home, and navigating friendships as an eighth grader.

Middle grade readers will appreciate the age appropriate suspense and the adults in their lives will hopefully appreciate the life lessons woven through the text. The characters surrounding Jasmine in the book are from various backgrounds which adds richness to the storytelling. The Spanish phrases added in without explicit explanation make for a fun learning experience for those that don't already know what they mean.

The story does start off building very slowly, as the author establishes Jasmine's grief, her adjustment to a new environment, and fleshes out the characters. This may require some patience from readers expecting immediate paranormal intrigue, but the emotional conclusion does pay off.

Jasmine Is Haunted
Mark Oshiro
A ghost has been following Jasmine Garza ever since her Papi (father) died. Mami refuses to acknowledge there is a spirit/ghost or something supernatural. Jasmine and her Mami (mother) decide to move to an apartment in East Hollywood. Jasmine wants a normal life. Her friends Bea Veracruz and Jorge Barrera are interested in the supernatural. Bea wants to be a paranormal investigator and Jorge is afraid of the hereafter. Jasmine shares with them about her ghost. They believe her and they are thrilled. They are determined to prove that the ghost is real. Jasmine becomes increasingly upset as the ghost bothers her more and more. Jasmine needs to find the answers to several questions including: why the ghost is focused on her, why her mother doesn’t want to discuss the past and why doesn’t her father reach out to her
This is an interesting look a grief and dealing with death. I enjoyed the characters.
Thank you Netgalley for providing a copy of this book for review.

Queer characters, normalizing all types of sexuality, ghosts, family, friends .... there is much to love about this book.

In this middle grade novel, Jasmine Garza has a ghost problem. Her mom uses escapism to avoid the issue, but they never get too far. A family mystery is revealed and the power of loss and grieving is honored.

If you love stories with a mysterious element, ghostly encounters, and love of family, this book is for you!