Life is awkward for Essie, now that her twin brother Nate has died, somehow dropping off a major river bridge and leaving everyone behind. Mom has scarpered, Dad is going down a well of depression, but Essie has been told she could replace her brother on the school cross country team, despite not running in earnest for years. The thing is, this forms a much stronger connection to Nate than anyone could expect. But it still leaves the question of what happened on the bridge that fatal night – but might he actually be around still, and still have the power to tell us?

This is one of those hi/lo short stories dressed up as a poem and therefore looking like a full novel. If you doubt me on its length, it took me 70 minutes to read – aloud. OK, I skipped some of the page titles, because as seems typical some of them are incorporated into the text and the rest are avoidable titles. What I found through what will certainly seem to some to be my sprint and not a full 5k cross country was a perfectly serviceable example of the format – a book that has to, and does, manage the bereavement side of things for the entire family with honesty, veracity and sincerity. It also seemed to me to have the truth of the whole getting-back-into-running thread down very well.

Essie is very good company, exasperated at having inherited Nate's unruly dog, and initially seeing the running as yet another thing she has to take on her shoulders, along with the dog, the awkward neighbour, the making sure Dad calls in for pizza each Wednesday. I think her dealing with the death will obviously put certain readers off these pages, but to me it was neither too light and frothy nor gothic and gloomy. It's quite the expert read, all told, and despite all the extreme tidiness of everything being wrapped up at the end (bar one storyline, that is) it has to count as a strong four stars.

Thank you, NetGalley and Rosen Publishing Group, for allowing me to read the novel Ghost Runner by Ann Malaspina in exchange for my honest review. #GhostRunner #NetGalley

The story of Ghost Runner is a powerful tale of what it’s like to carry on after losing a loved one and what comes next in a teen's life. Essie struggles after losing her twin brother. One powerful aspect I found noteworthy in this book is when Essie automatically joins the track team, without hesitation, and stops taking photos for the Yearbook. Whether or not the author intended this, it illustrates that when people are grieving, they sometimes lose a part of themselves to cope with the pain. I believe tweens would enjoy this impactful story as it is short, fast-paced, and compelling. I would highly recommend this to reluctant readers.

“ Nate is speaking to me now. Not in my ears but in my bones and muscles,” says Essie. Essie’s twin brother Nate, is dead. He leaves behind his twin sister, parents and his dog Apollo. Apollo only liked Nate, and Essie struggles to care for him. Until one day when Apollo sees something- could it be Nate? Essie desperately wants answers as to want happened to her brother. Written beautifully in verse, this story was moving and suspenseful.

Thank you so much to West 44 Books and Netgalley for the ebook to read and review.

After Nate dies, Essie’s life isn’t the same anymore. Her parents fight constantly until her mom moves out, her dad does nothing and Nate’s dog acts out. Essie still sees his ghost, feels when he’s there and hears him when she runs, she tries to get closer to his ghost and to him to figure out how he exactly died.

This was really good, I liked Essie and it was so sad how much she was forced to deal with after his death. Her entire life erupted, she and her parents couldn’t cope anymore, everything changed instantly. I really liked that she never gave up on her twin, she knew there was more to the story and she had to fight to get it out.

The way the story was told in a mysterious way was wonderful, I liked that you were given pieces and had to try to put the story together with Essie, I liked how she uncovered the truth bit by bit and ensured her brother’s death was solved so she could help him pass on and help her family heal.

This is a really gripping verse book, I was definitely hooked into the story, wanting all the answers myself and enjoying the very sad story as it unlocked more and more each chapter.

Award-winning children's author Ann Malaspina writes about the environment, social justice, history, and current events in her picture books, chapter books, and YA and MG verse novels. She holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her newest HI-LO novel-in-verse is Ghost Runner.

For readers unaware, HI-LO books, short for high-interest, low-readability books, are key to cultivating reading skills and a love for literature in tweens. These engaging and relatable books are invaluable in sparking interest and enhancing literacy in middle schoolers. These books will have limited vocabulary and need to focus on a very specific target age range, so to capture a ghost story in such a limiting format is impressive. Malaspina creates a story of a younger twin, Essie, whose brother, Nate, died under mysterious circumstances. Guided only by her brother’s dog and the innate sense of companionship that twins have, Essie is determined to solve the secret of her brother’s death and avenge his ghost.

This book absolutely works for the targets it has to hit. The language is simple and direct, and the verse uses some of the tools of prosody to create tension but also isn’t too ornate to scare off young readers. Older readers might enjoy this tale, but it’s very much centered on a YA/tween audience. For those readers, this would be an engaging tale of justice, revenge, and forgiveness, and a way for them to dabble in horror without being too scared off.

Beautifully and heartbreakingly done. So much emotion throughout this entire book. You could truly feel the grief and range of emotions experienced by the main character. The unexpected reveal toward the end was not something I expected, but the payoff felt rewarding. An important book for anyone dealing with loss.

I really enjoyed this book. I sat and read it in one setting. A GREAT storyline of heartbreak and tragedy. I love books in verse and this book did not disappoint.

Thank you to NetGalley, West 44 Books, Rosen Publishing Group, and Ann Malaspina for the opportunity to read Ghost Runner in exchange for an honest review.

Ghost Runner follows Essie, a teen whose twin brother died somewhat mysteriously. His body was found in the local river. Did he fall? Jump? Was it murder? While Essie and her family struggle with a disconnect after this loss, Essie does her best to take care of Nate's dog and do what Nate would want her to do.

She loves running, but never joined the track team because she didn't want to get in Nate's way. Now she is encouraged to join, because "that is what Nate would want," as it were. She gets some strange looks from the people who were Nate's friends, people who she thought would be friendly to her as well. why are they looking at her with nasty glares? And on top of everything, she loves photography, but track takes away a lot of her time.

To top things off, Essie thinks her vision is bad. She keeps seeing something that looks like her brother, running in the woods or alongside her. Twins have a special interconnection, so perhaps it really is him? Or maybe she just needs glasses.

This novel is an exploration of friendship, family, ambition, and loss. Essie strives to do what she loves, but has a hard time because of the legacy her brother left behind and not wanting to overshadow that, even though she enjoys running too. There is evidence of a broken family, when Essie's dad is lackadaisical and disinterested in anything, and her mom has left (hopefully temporarily). This makes the book have connections with some young readers, showing that they aren't the only ones who have lost a family member or have a dysfunctional family because of loss.

Yet another great novel-in-verse for young readers. Any teen will find enjoyment out of this one!

This book is a sad and tragic book about the loss of Nate, Essi's twin brother, and the truth about how he died. I liked how it was written as a collection of poems. The book is about grief, survivor's guilt, and moving on after the loss of a loved one. Each character was connected to Nate in a different way and thus, grieving in a different way. I found it insightful to show the various ways that grief affects a person and how it can be different for everyone.

Trigger warning: death & grief

Ghost Runner is a sad and full of grief collection of poems written as verse, dealing with the death of Nate, Essi's twin brother. The collection shows the sadness and pain felt by his family, how each of them blames themselves and others for what happened. At the same time, the collection deals with the continuation of life and the struggle for the truth of how Nate actually fell from the bridge. I like this way of storytelling and that the poems are short but say a lot.

Content warning for death and grief.