Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ever have one of those mornings where nothing goes right? Well, Anya’s day starts that way. Her mother serves her something greasy and fatting for breakfast, she gets embarrassed in front of the best looking guy at school and her only friend gets mad at her and stomps off before she even gets on the bus for school. To top it off, she falls down an old abandoned well. To make matters worse, Anya is not alone in this well. She soon learns the well is haunted by the ghost of a young girl. Now Anya has a new friend, but is the ghost a friend “for life” or does she have something else in mind?

I enjoyed this graphic novel. It carries a very good lesson of (forgive the pun) "don't judge a book by its cover." To Anya everything is black and white. Sean is gorgeous therefore he is good. Because Emily is helping her, Emily is good. Dima is an over-achieving, fresh off the boat Russian nerd, therefore he is bad. I think the black, gray and white illustrations lend themselves to the theme of not everyone is what you might think they are. It isn't until later in the novel that Anya begins to question about the gray areas in her life. Sean is not the guy he seems to be; Dima is not the "fobby" creep he seems to be; and Emily is just plain scary.
I would recommend this book for ages 14 and up.

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