The Only Ghost in School

by Tara J. Hannon, Tara J. Hannon (Illustrator)

Overview

Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol meets Casper the Friendly Ghost in this hilarious first book of a highly illustrated full-color chapter book series about finding friendship and being the new kid at school—perfect for early, emerging, and reluctant readers.

For Ghostie, life in Scareville is perfect. But everything changes when his parents announce that they’re moving to Smithville.

Now Ghostie is the ONLY ghost at Smithville Elementary, and he is scaring his classmates just by existing. While his parents embrace their new human world, Ghostie feels more alone than ever. Will he be able to make friends and fit in?

With charming full-color art throughout, this first book in the Only Ghost chapter book series highlights how you can discover connections in differences and how you don’t have to fit in to find belonging.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593753163
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	08/12/2025
Series:	The Only Ghost
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	96
File size:	47 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Tara J. Hannon is an author-illustrator from Maryland. Her illustrated projects include Planes USA! (2020) and God Is There Wherever You Go (2021), both with Penguin Workshop. Her debut early graphic novel series, Birtle, is published with AMP Kids. Visit her online at www.tarajhannon.com.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

Horrifying News

In Scareville, life was perfectly normal. My friends were witches and werewolves, my house was haunted, and we celebrated birthdays in the best way possible, with scare parties. Until one eerie Tuesday, Mom and Dad ruined everything.

“We’re moving to Smithville,” they announced at dinner.

“A human town?! But WHY?” I moaned.

“I got my dream job as a haunted relations ghoul, or as they say in Smithville, a human relations agent!” Mom said proudly.

“Can you believe it?” Dad shrieked. “We are going to be floating among humans! It’s a dream come true!”

My parents are obsessed with humans; they read their books, follow their news, and binge-watch their TV shows, but I never thought they would take it this far. A ghost family living among HUMANS? It’s unheard of!

Scareville is a very diverse town filled with ghosts, witches, vampires, skeletons, mummies, monsters, and werewolves . . . but never humans.

“Aren’t humans scared of ghosts?” I asked, hoping it would bring my parents back to their senses.

“That’s why my job is so important,” Mom said. “We have to bridge the gap between the made-up ghost stories and the real ones.”

“Will I have to switch schools?” I asked.

“Yes, honey boo,” Mom said. “You’re already signed up to attend Smithville Elementary. Your teacher is very excited to have you in his class.”

“Booooo,” I cried.

“Cheer up, kid,” Dad said while he rubbed noogies on my head like the human dads do on TV. “Scareville will always be just a haunt away.”

“And you’re going to love Smithville,” Mom said. “I just know it!”

I hoped my mom was right.
 
CHAPTER 2

The Reasons
 
She was wrong. Very, very wrong.

I do not love Smithville for so many reasons.

Let me count the ways.
 
REASON NUMBER ONE

Our new house isn’t haunted. It is just a normal house with blue shutters that don’t rattle and wooden floorboards that don’t creak. It’s so quiet here! I haven’t had a good night’s sleep since we moved in a week ago.
 
REASON NUMBER TWO

On our first night here, I threw Mom a very supportive congratulations-on-your-new-job scare party and she totally freaked out. She vacuumed up all my spider confetti and shrieked, “We can’t throw scare parties here! We will scare the neighbors!” Which makes no sense because the whole point of scare parties is to scare the neighbors! RIP fun.
 
REASON NUMBER THREE

I can’t let Cookie out to catch her dinner at night because there’s a leash law here. I don’t know what a leash law is, but Dad says it means Cookie has to stay inside unless she’s on a leash. She hates that. So do I.
 
REASON NUMBER FOUR
I will be the ONLY ghost at Smithville Elementary.

Editorial Reviews

"Readers will have a ball. Monstrous fun, spun around some serious messages."—Kirkus

"A delightful mix of humor and heart. An exciting start to a fun new series that teaches about the challenges of change and embracing differences."—Booklist

From the Publisher

2025-04-19
A sudden move from spooky Scareville to the all-human town of Smithville leaves little Ghostie feeling like a real outsider in school.

Though Ghostie is happy in Scareville, “a very diverse town filled with ghosts, witches, vampires, skeletons, mummies, monsters, and werewolves,” he makes a brave effort to fit in at Smithville Elementary after his mom accepts a new job in a new locale as a “human relations agent,” charged with dispelling stereotypes about ghosts. Unfortunately, everyone else at school is a human, though depicted in the color illustrations on nearly every page of this early chapter book in an assortment of skin colors. Ghostie makes several “BOO” boos, such as bringing a bunch of terrifying spiders and eyeballs to a class birthday party. Worse yet, bullying classmate Kevin quickly saddles him with the humiliating moniker of “Grossie Ghostie.” Back home, not even Ghostie’s favorite dinner of frog nuggets and stench fries can pull him out of a “franken-funk.” Readers feeling Ghostie’s pain may be heartened when he bonds with another classmate who shares his interest in spiders and breaks the ice with everyone else by sharing a family photo album at show and tell, which prompts a flurry of interested questions, from “Can you get sunburned?” to “Do ghosts poop?” The takeaways are clear and sweetly leavened by the goofy, supernatural-themed wordplay; readers will have a ball.

Monstrous fun, spun around some serious messages.(Fantasy. 8-10)

Kirkus Reviews