Ten year old May Bird lives with her mother and a hairless cat named Somber Kitty at the edge of a woods in a place called Briery Swamp. She spends most of her time with her cat in the woods, dreaming of becoming a warrior princess or in her room drawing pictures of strange creatures. She's not like the other kids in her class and struggles without success to make a friend. In the fall, her mother plans to send her away from West Virginia to a boarding school in New York to help May develop normal friends and interests. Then she finds a mysterious old letter addressed to her 60 years ago in the rubble of an old post office in the woods. How strange is that? The letter is asking for her help and summons her to a hidden lake within the swamp. When May get there, she accidentally falls in and when she comes out her sensory system is different and she can see ghosts in the woods and at home. Upon a return visit to the lake, she falls through a portal to a dangerous ghostly world much farther away than New York, called the Ever After where only the deceased are welcome. May needs to remain concealed to escape the dreaded bogeyman Bo Cleevil, who steals souls and sucks them into nothingness (I've always wanted to know what the bogeyman was all about). Fortunately, May finds some unlikely and rather creepy friends that help her reach her quest and the possibility of returning home. This is a complex story with many frightening characters and events. BUT, if you love a good ghost story/mystery/adventure, this is a book you will not be able to put down! The end will leave you anxious to solve the unanswered questions...which is fine because this first book is part of a trilogy.
Note: Recommended for grades 5 - 7. Read excerpt on page 21 describing the face on the stamp and her address on the letter. Then read the letter on page 23.
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