Ghosts of Greenglass House

September 1, 2017

Gr 4-6-The Greenglass House and Milo are back with a sequel to rival the first book. One year has passed and once again Christmas break is upon the Pine family-but, as luck would have it, this will not be the quiet holiday that the family craves. Between a suspicious art student, old acquaintances from last year's Christmas adventure, and a group of odd carolers, this historic house becomes the setting of yet another caper. Milo adopts a new persona and skill set from the role playing game Odd Trails to figure out who has stolen the mysterious derrotero of famed smuggler Violet Cross. This nautical map charts the impossible coast of Nagspeake; a map that smugglers and customs agents alike would desperately love to have in their arsenal. Milford artfully weaves a mystery that revolves around a large group of characters, new and old. Characters are quirky, scheming, funny, and not entirely what readers may expect. VERDICT A solid middle grade book best for those who appreciate a good plot twist and a great story. A recommended purchase for most libraries, especially where there are fans of the first installment.-Lisa Nabel, Tacoma Public Library, WA

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2018
Young women thieves Clem and Georgie return to the cliffside smugglers' inn run by Milo's adoptive parents (Greenglass House); they're flush with loot from a heist gone wrong but missing a movable navigational map they'd hoped to secure. Ghostly girl Meddy reappears and helps Milo penetrate the motives of the inn's idiosyncratic guests. Milford delivers a complicated mystery and eerie ghost story. Zollars's chapter-heading vignette illustrations honor the story's many layers.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

September 1, 2017
It's Christmas at Greenglass House again, and Milo is looking forward to a traditional Nagspeake holiday at the cliffside smugglers' inn run by his adoptive parents. But then Clem and Georgie, the young women thieves who helped make last Christmas so hair-raising (Greenglass House, rev. 9/14), arrive flush with loot from a heist gone wrong and pursued by a double-crossing associate. Unfortunately, the object they'd most wished to secure in the heist, a movable navigational map created by the formidable late smuggler Violet Cross, is missing. Milo is relieved when Meddy, the ghostly girl who helped him solve last Christmas's mystery, reappears and guides him in forming yet another alter ego from the role-playing game Odd Trails. Like Negret, the character Milo created the year before, Tengfei helps Milo handle his social anxiety, honor his Chinese ancestry, and penetrate the motives of the inn's idiosyncratic guests. Working on many levels, Milford delivers a head-scratching mystery, an eerie ghost story, hints of romance, and tales within tales that explore the (fictional) history of Nagspeake. Zollars's chapter-heading vignette illustrations honor the many overlapping layers that make up the story, from kid-friendly make-believe to curious artifacts of a forgotten age. And when it all comes together at the satisfying climax, readers might go straight back to the beginning to read the book again. anita l. burkam

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from July 15, 2017
Winter in the inn above the River Skidwrack finds Milo and his parents hosting several guests who are not what they seem--and a mystery to be solved. Just before Christmas Greenglass House is filled with unexpected visitors. A young man who claims to be an art student, studying the famous stained-glass windows of the house, is the sole guest until Georgie and Clem, young women who met the year before at Greenglass House, arrive. They've recently pulled off a caper, recovering a stash belonging to legendary smuggler Violet Cross. They hoped to find Cross' derrotero, an incalculably valuable nautical map of the impossible, changing River Skidwrack. And then a troupe of midwinter revelers arrives in a kind of Morris-dancing tradition, singing carols and traveling with the horned skull of a hobby horse and a chimney sweep. Milo and his parents invite the carolers in, but a ceremonial chimney cleaning results in an overnight stay--and the game is afoot. Milford's clever, complex plot is full of humor, tantalizing clues, and stories within the story. Adopted Milo, who has become conscious of the ways the world assumes things about him and his Chinese heritage, takes on a new hero persona that offers him confidence and insight into his emotions and strengths. A brainy, satisfying assemblage of puzzles with an immensely likable protagonist. (Mystery/fantasy. 10-14)

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