When 12-year-old Kenny Huldorf moves to Providence, Rhode Island, he soon discovers that his attic bedroom is haunted by the ghost of a teenage slave named Caleb. Before long, Caleb summons Kenny back in time, where Kenny finds himself entangled in Caleb's murder and deeply troubled by the century-old injustice. Ultimately, it is up to Kenny to solve Caleb's murder or remain forever trapped in history. Part ghost story, part social commentary, this thought-provoking, hair-raising page turner from master tale spinner, Avi, is a perfect chilling summer read!
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Nice, light easing into my fall reads here! This was one of my favorite Avi books when I was a kid and was recently compelled to pick it up again to see how I saw the story as an adult. While I didn't find myself quite as riveted to the page as my childhood self seemed to be, I was still highly entertained, loving the nostalgia it brought back to me.
The intro to this story is Avi explaining that this is a "true story" told to him by Kenny Huldorf, the main character of Something Upstairs, Kenny being a boy who introduces himself to Avi at a school presentation the author gives. Given that the book incorporates things like time portals, you can guess that this is the same writing technique used for generations for writers to add an element of "ooooooo" to their stories. I don't mind it myself, I find it fun!
His mother said, "I don't believe in houses having ghosts." Then she added, "But, you know, I'm willing to admit they have memories."
It was a thought that intrigued Kenny. "What's the difference?" he asked.
His mother thought for a moment. Then she said, "I'm not sure."
So the story starts with young Kenny having to move with his parents from his comfy life in Los Angeles, CA to a quaint, historic (late 1700s era) house in Providence, Rhode Island. As Kenny points out, "the state so small, the entire city of Los Angeles couldn't be fit into it." :-) From the very first night in his new room, Kenny starts seeing shadows moving around... and then a hand rising from the floorboards. Doesn't really go much further than that but the next morning Kenny notices some eerie stains on the floorboards of his room. He decides to pry up a piece and take it to the local pharmacy to have it sent off for analysis (Is this even done? I've never heard of a pharmacy doing this). By night two, Kenny sees the shadow fully manifest into a easily visible ghost who hesitantly introduces himself as Caleb, a young boy who was a slave in the late 1700s, and who was also murdered in Kenny's room {Greeeaattt}, but isn't entirely sure who did it. Kenny decides he wants to help the boy. Soon after the initial conversation with Caleb, Kenny discovers that there seems to be a time portal in his room which can take him back to Caleb's time. Well that's handy!
Kenny soon discovers what really happened to Caleb but also finds himself torn when he's put in the position of deciding between keeping his word to Caleb and help him or being blackmailed by a slave trader from the 1700s to do his biding so that Kenny can return to his own time.
I think this book is a good intro toe-dipping kind of story to introduce young readers to the early years of this country's history, the horrors of slave trading / ownership as well as being just a flat out fun ghost story. A note to parents -- during the historical fiction parts of the story, the n-bomb does get dropped a few times when Caleb is referred to, so you may want to have a discussion about no-go words afterwards.
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