The Haunted House Project

Clasen, Tricia. The Haunted House Project. 2017. 215p. ISBN 978-1-5107-0712-2. Available at FIC CLA on the library shelves.

A year ago, Andie’s mother was hit by a truck and was instantly killed. The tragedy has impacted her family life. Her father has lost his job and is gambling away the insurance settlement. Her older sister Paige now works full time on top of going to school, not so she can afford to go to college but so she can buy groceries for her family. And Andie still miss her mom terribly every day, and her friends have long lost any semblance of commiseration for her and are now just plain annoyed she is no longer the fun free spirited girl she used to be.

At school Andie sees a counselor during the week, sometimes in group sessions, sometimes one on one. Andie is scared that the school counselor will discover how bad her homelife is, and that she will be wrestled from her father, who hasn’t done much fathering in the last year. Still, what you know is better than what you don’t. When she and her partner Isaiah are assigned a project in science, they decide to investigate ghosts. Andie has always read ghost stories, and she often feels like her mother is right here with her. As they discuss the project, a brilliant idea occurs to Andie. What if their project involved faking ghostly communication? Could she pull off making it seem like her mother is talking to Paige and to her father? She could document their reactions and keep track of what happens next.

As Andie and Isaiah begin implementing their haunting project, Andie realizes that her mother truly was the glue that held the family together. She sprays her mother’s perfume on the couch. She moves a picture slightly so it is more visible. She changes the television channel and the radio station. All subtle signs, but they all seem to have an impact on her sister and father.

Meanwhile, her own social life is crumbling as her friends, led by beautiful Becky, snub Isaiah and make demands on Andie she can’t fulfill. Plus, what exactly is the nature of her relationship to Isaiah? As she brings back her mother’s memory from the grave, can Andie save herself as well? A well written story about broken family dynamics, readers will appreciate Andie’s efforts at restarting the pulse of her own family and ensuring that it has a future.