Ghostly Bedtime Reading

When our phone rings close to 9 o'clock in the evening, I wonder what could be wrong. The other night I was already reading in bed when it rang. Nothing was wrong. My young neighbor girl was calling to tell me she had just finished reading Marion Dane Bauer's The Green Ghost, the signed book she received from me for Christmas. She loved it, she told me. She checked her school's library catalog, and neither of the other two books were listed. She wanted me to know how glad she was to have that book.

Last night I talked to her parents and told them how nice it was that they made her call me. No, they protested. It was not their idea. She finished reading it in her bed and said, "I have to call Julie." Given that this child is not usually an eager reader and rarely finishes chapter books independently, they readily agreed. Her straightforward enthusiasm caused me to fall asleep smiling. It caused her mom to find The Blue Ghost at our public library and me to reserve The Red Ghost for her from my library.