The Haunted House Next Door: The Graphic Novel

Gr 1-4–The new kid in town must confront the ghost haunting his house in this graphic novel adaptation of the first book in the “Desmond Cole: Ghost Patrol” series. After moving into an unsettling new house, scaredy-cat Andres meets his neighbor Desmond Cole, who has a garage full of strange equipment. After a house visit, Desmond reveals that he is an expert ghost hunter and the strange things happening in Andres’s home can be attributed to a ghost. Andres must overcome his fears to team up with Desmond and rid his house of the haunting for good. This graphic novel follows the original early chapter book beat for beat, with the main difference being the art style. The original book contained black-and-white illustrations by Victor Rivas, which added a slightly sinister atmosphere to Miedoso’s text. In this graphic novel adaptation, Costanza’s full-color artwork sands down the creepy factor in favor of an unthreatening cartoonish tone, which is reinforced by the exaggerated grins the characters sport for most of the story. Andres and his family are Hispanic, and Desmond and his family are Black.