Instead of Ebenezer Scrooge, who was visited by Three Christmas Ghosts in the early Nineteenth Century, Ben is visited by Three Valentines Ghosts in present day. The love of Ben's life, Marly, has passed away, at Sixteen years old. Ben is heartbroken and acts like Ebenezer Scrooge. A funny resemblance, and a twist of fate turn Ben around to some unexpected future possibilities.
JUSTIFICATION FOR REJECTION:
I was sorely disappointed. I thought this was going to be a mystery, supernatural, or some kind of horror book. Instead, it was more like "Casper the friendly Ghost". I felt no resonation with Ben, the teenage protagonist. Levithan did not bring on any narrative hook ,and failed to entangle my emotions into anything similar to scary. I would vote it more of a Children's Fairy Tale, if I had to categorize it.
Brian Selznick is the illustrator and has several Caldecott Honor books, but I don't think this is one of them. David Levithan must have copied word-for-word Charles Dickens's : A Christmas Carol and replaced Ebenezer Scrooge with a teenager, lovesick and sad his girlfriend died, on Valentines Day instead of Christmas. Ben gets the Bah Hum Bug attitude for Valentines Day, instead of Christmas Day, since his girl Marly is gone now.
Levithan calls it a remix, frankly, it's more like a duplicate with a few exceptions. In the authors note it says he captures not only the "holiday spirit" but the human spirit (162). Personally, I didn't catch anything except boredom. Even the art in the book is adapted from Dickens's Christmas Carol. I would have to say, back to the drawing board Levithan and Selznick.
GENRE: Young Adult Fiction, Supernatural.
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