The writing was good, but I just couldn't get into it. Although my students love horror, this one skews a little too mature for them.

This middle grade book handles death in an elegant, yet realistic way. I love how the lead gal feels everything is unfair. Just like most kids (and let’s face it us adults too) feel when bad things happen. To complicate things further our lead teen is able to see ghosts and 'collect' them just like her Mother and Grandmother (who lives with them). Therefore when an important person in her life dies she looks and hopes for their ghost to come to her.

Death
“Nobody wants to admit that death is something that eventually happens to everyone.”
In our world today, or at least in North America, we do not talk enough about death. There is a desire to avoid it, pretend it doesn't happen, or bury it in the ground never to be discussed again. It's silly when you think about it as the one thing we all have in common, if nothing else, is that we die. But due to the great unknown (and fear that comes from that) we tend to gloss over death and expect everyone to keep their feelings quietly to themselves. This is never a good option when it comes to mental health.
I like that The Ghost Collector promotes discussion about death and how it feels when someone important dies. How do we 'move on' and close the gap they've left? What can give us closure or resolution to the trauma of someone dying (regardless of how they die)?

Genuine Feelings
I'm 37 today and you might think that I can't remember being a teen; but I most certainly do. As I have no children today and my teen years were a bit traumatic (although whose weren't?!) I have very vivid memories of my emotions at the time. One of the biggest things that I remember thinking as a child was that everything is unfair (for the record I still believe this to be true). Allison Mills does an excellent job of portraying this concept and shows it well in our leading gal. There is an attempt to sweep the death under the rug and so when she finally has an outburst with an adult about it her primary frustration is how unfair it is (and that she feels neglected). The emotions of our leading gal felt real to me; and even had me nearly in tears at one point (high praise as I'm not a crier).

Ghosts
The thing to perhaps be aware of here for some parents is that there is a prevalence of ghosts in The Ghost Collector. Mills presents them as obviously real and previously (very) human in nature. There isn't a lot of poltergeist or mean ghosts here; more animals, children, and a couple of significant humans. I personally love the ghost repertoire presented as it's (generally) in a positive light. The ghosts aren't there to be a nuisance or scare anyone; they have just lost their way and need help finding it.

Overall
By the end of the story we see our leading teen go through a transformation; both physically and mentally. I love the symbolism given to the cutting of her hair. This is something I did at 19 in order to try and restart my adult life on a better, less dangerous path. Mills uses the physical cutting of our gal's hair as a way to make that change apparent and tangible to the younger readers.
I also enjoyed the musical references like The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, etc. This melancholy 70-80's music is the perfect sort of backdrop to the confusion, grief, and discomfort of being a teenager. Overall Mills does a good job of creating a space to talk about death, ensuring our leading teen grows and learns over the course of the novel, and does so without any romantic entanglements!

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

This is such a different ghost story! The author's great-grandmother told her stories which led to this tale - and I'm glad she did.

The Ghost Collector is not a haunting tale in the sense of giving you chills, but a tale of how our lives might be haunted. Haunted with grieving.

Shelly has inherited her family's ability to catch ghosts in her hair and to help them along. She can catch the ghosts of animals as well as people. When her mother dies, it's only natural that Shelly would expect to have time with her mom's ghost. How do we grasp onto things to help us remember our loved ones? I've known of people who keep their parents' treasures, or photos, or stories. If you could keep the ghost of a loved one near would you? What happens when we can't have what we want - our loved one to stay? Shelly goes through this process of grieving and spins the reader into her hair for the ride.

Kids need sad books. It helps them process the hard things in their lives.

If a middle-grade book has anything that might make some parent wary, I feel like I need to mention it. There is a very passing reference to a lesbian couple. The book talks about Hannah's wife in passing while the characters are on a ghost job.

There is no violence, sexual content, or swearing.

I recommend this book and author.

Shelly, her mother and grandmother can all see ghosts. They "collect" ghost that are stuck using their hair and then release them to move on to another plane. Its cute how even animals have ghosts that they help. Shelly starts collecting ghosts hoping that the one ghost she is looking for will come.

This book is about dealing with grief in younger children and how they don't always understand what is happening. This has an uplifting end though. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Ghost Collector by Allison Mills pulls off a child protagonist with an extraordinary ability who is also extraordinarily authentic. Shelly, like her grandmother, is able to connect with ghosts, talk to them, and carry them from one place to another using her hair as a vehicle. Her natural curiosity about them, coupled with her desire to take on jobs like an adult makes the supernatural element so matter-of-fact and effortless. I never thought I could read a story about a character bringing a ghost home and believe it so thoroughly. The descriptions of how it feels it actually hold a ghost in one's hair were especially well-written and vivid. The ghosts themselves don't merely act like translucent humans but have a distant disconnect with the mortal world. They fixate on what was important to them in life but are disinterested in what's happening in the present, very much like characters stuck between two worlds.

At the heart of the story, though, is Shelly's relationship with her mother, who doesn't want her daughter spending so much time chatting with the dead. The mother and grandmother present opposing views (and Shelly definitely sides with Grandma), but the love between mother and daughter never wavers. The relationship is real; one of ups and downs, good times and bad times. Ultimately, this was one of those books that intrigued me from the start, and while I originally encountered this title on Netgalley, I just had to buy it for myself. I consumed it in a single afternoon, barely able to put it down, and although I don't cry at books very often, I was misty-eyed by the end of it. A strongly recommended read.

I'm a big fan of children's and middle grade horror stories. Although I wouldn't classify anything in this book as scary per say, I did enjoy the themes and heartfelt nature of The Ghost Collector. I'd definitely be interested in reading more MG fiction by Allison Mills.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a free ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

This book wasn't anything overly special, but I do think it had good conmentary and representation of death and grief.
I think it touches those subjects in an interesting way that could potentially help kids understand the topics a little better.

A marvelous new story with so much heart. The Ghost Collector by Allison Mills delves into big feelings of grief and loss and how we cope when those things hit close to home.

Shelly’s grandmother is a ghost collector, she helps the ghosts of people and animals that get stuck behind, it’s a family business. Grandma, Shelly’s mom and even Shelly herself all have the ability to see ghosts and help them along their journey. Shelly loves helping Grandma help the ghosts in their community. Grandma is pretty well known, even the police ask for her help from time to time. When the unthinkable happens, Shelly’s life is turned upside down and she begins to collect the ghosts around her instead of helping them move on.

I love that Allison Mills is sharing some of her history and community with young readers. The Ghost Collector is a story about loss and how we cope with loss. It’s also sprinkled with her Cree ancestry to move the story along and give it more depth. It’s not the entire focus of the story, it’s the connecting strand that links Shelly and her family and helps us to understand the important jobs of elders in different communities. Mental well being is a big focus in many schools right now. When we are experiencing loss and grief, we can have a hard time reconciling all of the big feelings we experience. This book was an intimate look at how the death of someone close can make us do things we wouldn’t ordinarily do, to feel like we can survive the hurt. Through compassion, caring, and understanding we can make our way to the other side of grief

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this title!

The Ghost Collector is a moving and tender exploration of death, moving on, grief, and similar themes.
I expected something spooky or horrifying (as a fan of horror cinema and literature) but instead got an excellent supernatural drama.
Mills characters are believable and relatable (every kookum is like Grandma in this story pretty much) and her voice for the protagonist came across quite well.
Only downside I felt was a lack of distinct place (in a more abstract sense like time) but I also got that wasn't the focus and it was more of a character focused drama.

8/10

Recommend for Gr. 3+

Shelly and her grandmother catch ghosts with their hair. How do you catch ghosts with your hair? Shelly and her mom live with grandma. Shelly and her mom do things her grandma would not approve of but its their secrets. When Shelly and grandma get news that her mom is dead due to a car accident, Shelly can’t believe it. When Shelly “gets it,” she expects her mom to show up to her as a ghost. She doesn’t know why she hasn’t seen her mom’s ghost. She goes and asks ghosts if they have seen her mom. She brings home a ghost from the cemetery to her room. When the ghost complains about no one to talk to during the day, she brings home a kitten ghost, then another ghost until her room gets crowded. She hides them while she goes to school so grandma won’t know what Shelly has done. Will Grandma discover the ghosts? Will Shelly find her mom’s ghost?

Besides the humor in the novel, there is a serious theme about death of a loved one and grieving. There is an interesting twist on how Grandma and Shelly move ghosts on. The idea is that ghosts don’t belong here on earth. I enjoyed the novel seeing the relationship between Shelly and her Grandma grow into a good relationship.

I never got to read this one. Maybe some day but I just never got to it. Sorry for requesting it. Sometimes life just gets in the way of being able to read all the books you think look interesting. I will never be able to finish my to read list.

Fiction | 9-13

The Ghost Collector, by Allison Mills (2019)
Got a ghost? Shelly and her grandmother are ready to help. Like all women in their family, they have the ability to see spirits and catch them. In their hair. Once caught, the ghosts can be set free and sent on their way, to wherever it is they are supposed to be. Shelly’s mum has it too, but she prefers to spend her time with the living. The three live in a happy home, and Shelly is delighted whenever her grandmother lets her accompany her on a ghost job. Sometimes the ghosts are in a house, sometimes they are animals, and sometimes they are quite happy to stick around. Grandmother says you can’t push them till they are ready to go, but often a cup of warm milk does the trick. When a tragedy befalls the family, Shelly finds herself drawing inward, choosing the company of ghosts over the real world.
Mills draws on her Ililiw/Cree heritage, and the stories of her own great-grandmother, as she develops a strong cast of characters who are sympathetic and real. I liked the authenticity of the relationships between Shelly, her mum, and her grandmother, as well as the polite but long-suffering acceptance of an rather too-friendly neighbour. The writing is generally strong, with occasional humour as well as excellent dialogue and descriptive setting. The First Nations references are well integrated in the story and don’t feel at all forced. I did feel the story dragged a bit toward the end, with too much omniscient narration filling the gaps, when we could have learned it through Shelly’s experience. The old “show me, don’t tell me” lesson. My thanks to Annick Press for the digital reading copy provided through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Grand Forks residents can find a copy in the junior fiction collection at the Grand Forks & District Public Library.
More discussion and reviews of this novel: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43783388

Three generations of Cree women live together. They all have the ability to see ghosts, catch them, and help them move on. Shelly, the youngest of them is in 6th grade and looking forward to following the family tradition. When her mother dies in a car accident Shelly searches for her ghost and ends up collecting and keeping a menagerie of other ghosts in her bedroom.
I liked the three characters. My problem with this book is that it's more about dealing with grief than it is about the ghosts. I wanted more. I wanted to be more connected to and afraid for Shelly but that never happened.

My heart hurts after reading this debut novel - it was one of those books that came into my life at the exact moment that I needed it. What I thought was going to be a spooky middle-grade story about ghost hunting actually turned into a book about losing a parent and the grieving that comes along with it.

My dad passed away (2 weeks ago today as I write this) and my heart is still shattered. This author was able to perfectly describe most of my feelings in a way I haven't been able to articulate. In a way, its comforting to get validation and know that things I've been thinking/feeling are completely normal.

Not only that, but there were direct quotes that weirdly fit my situation in a way that left me shocked after reading. Here are a few:

"It feels like everything should be different, but it's not. Neighbors walk their dogs. Other kids walk home from school. Shelly passes people jogging who smile and wave hello. Something should be different, but it's not. The weather is overcast but not raining. People are living their lives."

"Okay feels like it's years and years away right now, so far away it might as well be the moon, might as well not exist, but the car keeps driving toward the house and Grandma keeps holding Shelly close. The world keeps moving."

"Any day now her mother's going to walk through the door and apologize for being gone for so long, the way she did when she had to pull long shifts at work. Shelly will tell her it's okay. That it doesn't matter if it took a long time, it's just nice to have her home. Only she doesn't come."

"Shelly doesn't think she's a child anymore. She's gotten older since her mom died. She can't stop growing up and getting further away from her mom."

"She wants to tell [him] he needs to stay around if he wants her to remember him. She wants to tell Grandma that memories aren't the same as a person. That they fade. One day she won't remember the sound of [his] voice... One day she won't remember her mother's face. Maybe ghosts aren't the same as living people, but they're better than nothing... She wants to keep everybody here, with her, instead of letting them leave."

"Death is something that happens to everyone, but knowing when it's going to happen, choosing when you make the transition from life to death, choosing whether or not you'll be a ghost and stick around a little longer, isn't something most people get the chance to do."

Wonderfully unique story, lovely and nuanced characters, perfect read for young teens. Explores grief and moving on in an intensely personal way.

I honestly had a hard time getting into this one, but it's a story we haven't heard before so I am so glad it's out there on library and bookstore shelves now.

Absolutely wonderful read! I enjoyed the plot, characters, and prose so much. Would definitely recommend it to anyone!

The idea behind the story was intriguing which is why I requested the advance reading copy, but it was very disappointing style-wise. It felt like I was reading a very early draft. I did not finish this.

Fantastic middle grade read for lover of scary stories with great characters. I would have loved this as a child and know many kids who would love to get this at Christmas.

This book was very haunting and sad in a way that I wasn't expecting. I didn't read the synopsis because I was trying to go in without any expectations but I wasn't expecting it to be as deep and sad as it was. I guess I assumed it wouldn't be because it's a middle-grade novel but I think this is more of a commentary on how I need to change my expectations of age-based genres. Other than that, I thought the book was very thoughtful and compelling. I really enjoyed the Indigenous representation, the characters and the arcs they go through. I really liked Joseph's character and I would have loved to see more from him. I'm still not sure how I feel about Shelly; there were parts where I felt for her and parts where I really didn't like the decisions she made, even if she's a grieving child. Overall this was a great story and something I would recommend to children going through the grieving process.