“Johnny never knew for certain why he started seeing the dead” is the eerie opening for Johnny and the Dead by Terry Prachett but intriguing nonetheless.

While taking a shortcut home from school one afternoon through a cemetary, Johnny meets a rather unexpected stranger – the Alderman himself, a deceased Alderman. He realizes that he can see, hear and communicate with all the dead denizens of this graveyard.

The problem is that his new friends are about to be evicted. A developer wants to use this land for a new condominium building, but obviously the dead community doesnt want to leave. It is up to Johnny and his friends to stand up for those who can’t speak for themselves. They try to find out if someone famous was ever buried in the area to increase publicity, as well as hopefully opposition to the corporation takeover, but their search comes up dry. Will that the be the end of the end of these ghosts? Or will Johnny find a way, against all odds?

The story was entertaining, especially as the perspective was unusual. But I cannot say that it was a believable tale. The characters, both dead and alive, really did not have any depth. I found this especially distracting in regards to Johnny’s friends, who weren’t different enough in personality for me to be able to figure out who was saying what a lot of the times.

The tale was an easy read, had some funny ways of delineating a dead from living character, and contained some quirky dialogue. Even though it was basically a ghost tale, it was not dark in any way. No language, vulgarity or violence. The only questionable content could be when we found out a character had committed suicide. All in all, I dont think its a terrible book for young adult age group, but I do think there are better reads out there.

Kate

Johnny and the Dead by Terry Prachett
(c) 1993, Harper Collins
Publisher Reading Level: 9-12
ISBN: 0-06-054188-1
213 Pages