Title: The Death of Yorik Mortwell
Author: Stephen Messer (illustrated by Gris Grimly)
Genre: Middle-grade Gothic fantasy novel (Dark Fantasy)
Age Category: 9 years +
Summary: The Death of Yorik Mortwell
It’s not every day you come across a book where the hero dies in the first chapter. But in The Death of Yorik Mortwell, that’s exactly what happens to 12-year-old Yorik Mortwell, orphaned son of a gamekeeper at Ravenby Manor: he dies. Fortunately for the readers, Yorik does not pass quietly into the great beyond, but returns as a ghost.
Upon his return, he is greeted almost immediately by the spoiled and curiously powerful silver-haired Princess and her peculiar (and ailing) friend Erde, who live in an enchanted glade on the grounds. After briefly considering exacting vengeance on his killer, Yorik realizes that something dark and deadly is stalking the manor grounds and the house itself, while the Princess’s friend Erde seems to be wasting away into nothing. Yorik quickly loses his taste for revenge, and is consumed with concern for Erde and for his still-living younger sister Susan, a servant in the Ravenby House. He is determined to defeat the Dark Ones—but what are they? Where did they come from? Why are there so many? And what is one little ghost boy to do against such dark forces? Continue reading →
by Debra Frasier – and decided that I wanted to document these experiences and keep track of the books I read with her. The 
was the one book I would want with me if I were ever stranded on a desert island with sixth graders! 
situation (except, you know, with a library instead of a museum). 
in particular—as a concrete example of an important kind of books I think adults should avoid exposing children to.
