What happens when you’re the only human student in a school for ghosts?

Lenny has no idea of the adventure he’s in for when his parents decide to take an extended research trip and sign him up for a boarding school in an old German castle. But even before leaving for the school, it seems like something is trying to prevent Lenny from going…

Once he arrives at Shadowsnout Castle Academy, a couple more things become clear: (1) this is not your average school, and (2) Lenny is probably in some serious danger. Lenny needs an escape plan—and fast.

As Lenny makes his way through the school (and some most unusual classes), he’s plunged into a world of turning heads, rhyming radio ghosts, invisible pirates, and floating maidens, each with their own creepiness factor—and, surprisingly, charm. And when the school comes under attack by outside forces, Lenny finds himself questioning everything he thought he knew. What if, maybe, being here, right now, was his destiny all along?

Frank Maria Reifenberg likes to tell stories, true and invented: mostly in books, sometimes in screenplays, and sometimes in an opera libretto. He is committed to promoting reading for boys and gives seminars, lectures, and workshops on the subject. His titles have been awarded the Leipzig Reading Compass several times, been nominated for the German-French Youth Literature Prize and the Catholic Children’s Book Prize, and been short-listed for the prestigious White Ravens list given by the International Youth Library. He lives and works in Cologne, Germany. Learn more about the author at www.frankmariareifenberg.wordpress.com and follow him on Instagram @frank.maria.reifenberg.

Rachel Reynolds has published over twenty translated works of fiction and nonfiction, including Forty Hours by Kathrin Lange, Love Letters from Montmartre by Nicolas Barreau, and Place of No Return by Andrea C. Hoffmann and Mihrigul Tursun. She was one of the founders of the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative, which aims to broaden the audience for world literature and translation. Rachel has multigenerational roots in the German communities of East Texas, where she was born, but now lives in a college town in Tennessee with her husband, two children, an impossible number of cats, and a fluffy dog the size of a sheep.

Thilo Krapp is an illustrator of nonfiction books from complex to simple, children’s books for all ages, and comics of world literature. His graphic novel adaptation of H. G. Wells’s classic The War of the Worlds won the Rudolph Dirks Award for best literary adaptation (translated into French). He is an honorary member of the board of the Illustrators Organization, the professional association of German-speaking illustrators. He lives in Berlin, Germany. Learn more about the illustrator at www.thilo-krapp.com and follow him on Instagram @thilokrapp.