Haint Misbehavin'

Title: Haint Misbehavin'
Author: Maureen Hardegree
Publish Date: June 2010 Bell Bridge Books
Synopsis:

The start of a fun middle-grade series, The Ghost Handlers, follows Heather Tildy, an Atlanta teen with a troublesome habit of attracting ghosts. Middle-child Heather has enough to worry about with sisters, boys and school. Now that a trouble-making girl from the 1800's is poking her nose in Heather's business, her life has taken a supernatural turn for the worse! Before her life can get better, she has to figure out how to help the ghost move on.

Written in first person, Heather takes us along on her harrowing journey into puberty and dealing with the unfortunate side effect of seeing ghosts. She tries to convince herself she is just seeing things, but she knows it runs in her family and she shouldn’t fight it. Unfortunately, Heather’s ghost, Amy, is mischievous and will cause more problems than she can ever imagine.

All Heather wanted to do was enjoy her summer and spend time drooling over her crush, Drew. He is a lifeguard and sitting at the pool waiting for him to notice her sounds fabulous! She doesn’t want him to notice her constant rashes and sensitive skin issues she is plagued with and her stupid nickname, but she wants him to notice HER. She has a ton of questions about what is happening to her body and how to deal with all of it, but her older sister is less than helpful and her mom is always busy. Besides, if her sister helps her, she has to deal with the ridicule from all of her sister’s friends, and these are not nice girls.

Amy, a ghost from the days of prairie, has always been with Heather. It is just now, as puberty is moving in, that she is visible again. Heather always had an imaginary friend as a kid, but she never imagined she was “real”. She discovers though, through trial and error, that Amy needs help moving beyond this existence or she will remain a thorn in her side. Heather has enough issues to deal with without waiting for Amy to move on and be with her family.
The problems Amy causes for Heather are humorous in most cases and selfish in others. Whether Heather wants to or not, she is on a journey to discover who she is as a person, that older guys aren’t always what they seem, and sometimes allies come from the most unlikely places.

The book was a little slow in the beginning and it was difficult to stay focused on the story line. She got caught up in describing Amy’s antics and I wanted the story to move forward. It did pick up and I found myself enjoying Heather’s interactions with Drew and her friends. The dialogue between characters became quick and witty. I also really liked the mystery behind Amy’s history and Heather’s inventive problem solving. It will be fun to see what Heather is up to next time.


My Over All Rating: