It's the summer before fifth grade, and for Ferris Wilkey, it is a summer of sheer pandemonium. Her little sister, Pinky, has vowed to become an outlaw. Uncle Ted has left Aunt Shirley and, to Ferris's mother's chagrin, is holed up in the Wilkey basement to paint a history of the world. And Charisse, Ferris's grandmother, has started seeing a ghost in the doorway to her room - which seems like an alarming omen given that she is feeling unwell. But the ghost is not there to usher Charisse to the Great Beyond. Rather, she has other plans - wild, impractical, illuminating plans. How can Ferris satisfy a spectre with Pinky terrorizing the town, Uncle Ted sending Ferris to spy on her aunt, and her father battling an invasion of raccoons?

As Charisse likes to say, "Every good story is a love story,? and Kate DiCamillo has written one for the ages: emotionally resonant and healing, showing the twice Newbery Medallist at her most playful, universal and profound.

Kate DiCamillo is one of America's most beloved storytellers, author of The Tale of Despereaux and Flora and Ulysses, both of which have been awarded the prestigious Newbery Medal; Because of Winn-Dixie, which received a Newbery Honor; The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, which won a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award; and the hugely popular trilogy of stories about the Three Rancheros: Raymie Nightingale, Louisiana's Way Home and Beverly, Right Here. Born in Philadelphia, she grew up in Florida and now lives in Minneapolis, USA, where she faithfully writes two pages a day, five days a week.