Module 8: Dying to Meet You

Book Summary: Mr. Grumply is a revered children's author in search of a home for the summer in order to finish the last book in a series he began years ago. He decides he needs quiet and unhooks his telephone and communicates with his lawyer, agent, and realtor all via letters. He discovers an old house through a realtor for rent on 43 Old Cemetery Road that has been available for a long time. The owners are professors in ghostly matters and they are abroad for the summer, potentially never to come back. Mr. Grumply settles in nicely in the mansion only to discover that the owners' son, Seymour, is still living in the house with his friend Olive. Olive, as it turns out, is the original owner of the house and a ghost. Seymour and Olive make living in the house a terrible time for Mr. Grumply. When they discover that he is completely broke and fighting terrible writer's block, they decide to help him put together the final story. Mr. Grumply and Olive make amends and it appears that he will purchase the house and live there. There is one caveat though: anyone who buys the house also gets Seymour. When there is a possibility to demolish the house, the three main characters go into action to prevent it. This is the first book in a series.

APA Reference of Book:
Klise, K. (2009). Dying to meet you. Boston, MA: Harcourt/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Impressions: This book is cute and quirky. The book has a re-readable quality with its mock ads, newspaper clippings, and letters all adding clever parts to the story. There is a comedic quality to how Mr. Grumply, Seymour, and Olive all communicate within the house with letters, aside from the letters that are also sent to people outside of the house. The book is illustrated with newspaper clippings and ads that also add components to the story. The title makes it appear that there is a potential for a scary story. In reality, it is more humorous, with the wordplay throughout the book. The only odd part, in my opinion, is how Seymour's parents are portrayed as professionals that could care less about their son. Mr. Grumply and Olive clearly make up better paternal and maternal figures in the story. Since this book is the first in a series, I am curious about how it progresses in future books.

Professional Review: "Plenty of fun lurks in this ghost-story comedy when a dried-up, unsociable writer, I.B. Grumply, rents an old house already occupied by Seymour Hope, an abandoned boy, and his best friend, Olive, an active and bossy lady ghost. All told through letters, newspaper articles and other documents, the story also stars M. Sarah Klise’s whimsical line drawings, which add substance to the plot. Readers learn that Mr. Grumply’s writer’s block has continued until he’s penniless; he’ll have to open up and make friends with his new roommates if he wants to produce that next bestseller. Kate Klise fleshes out the plot with back stories on the house, Seymour’s catastrophic, absent parents and Olive’s haunting of the house. Suspense intrudes when Seymour’s parents reappear and decide to demolish it. Everywhere they look, readers will find comedy, even in the headers on the letters and character names. Of course it’s all going to come out magnificently in the end, thereby setting up the next book in the planned series. A quirky, comedic romp" (Kirkus Reviews, 2009, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kate-klise/dying-to-meet-you-2/)

Kirkus Reviews. (2009, March 1). [Review of the book Dying to meet you, by K. Klise] Retrieved from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kate-klise/dying-to-meet-you-2/

Library Uses: I think this book would appeal to kids that like books with visuals and letters, such as Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney or Postcards from Camp by Simms Taback. Also, the wordplay throughout the story would make this book appealing to educators.