Leo: A Ghost Story

This is a wonderful children’s book with themes about isolation, loneliness, and friendship. All three of my kids (9, 6, 4) were moved by the story and talked about it afterwards. It’s probably most age appropriate for the 6-year-old, but it’s always great when we find a book to capture all of their attention!Leo is the ghost, and he is lonely because no one can see him. He’s also drawn in as a pencil outline (vs full color like other characters). He manages to save the family in the house he “haunts” from a burglar, but they get very scared. So he leaves.It’s obviously been several years since he left the house, because he’s confused by the outside world and it’s missing a lot of the landmarks he expected. He’s so sad. When suddenly a little girl can SEE him.They become friends, and her parents assume this is an imaginary friend. Leo is happy.This simple story turned out to be a great jumping off point for a conversation with my kids about making sure everyone in their class is “seen” and strategies for when you’re lonely or left out. I really appreciate the applicability of the themes across my kids’ ages.I highly recommend the book.

We seem to enjoy everything Mac Barnett writes. His books always feel powerful on multiple levels. This is a book about acceptance. I love how the different illustrators Barnett works with always seem just right for the story. This story is illustrated mostly in shades of blue with accents of black, tan, and white. Fabulous illustrations. As a ghost, Leo is white outlined in blue. The skin tones of all the other characters are all shades of blue and for me this makes the important point that the shade of someone's skin is unimportant and really just variations of the same. Also, the police officer in the book happens to be a woman. Gender and skin tone are not important to the story and are not explicitly mentioned at all making the effortless acceptance more powerful. Jane's easy acceptance of Leo as a ghost once she realizes he is not what she thought is also powerful and heartwarming. This is in contrast to the family who moved into Leo's house at the beginning of the book and just reacted in fear and to the rest of society who could not see him at all. We enjoyed the story, the illustrations, and the message!

This story is darling, with nice illustrations.

I like the dark, retro-style illustrations but found the story "meh." I enjoy powerful and/or clever stories with few words (Jon Klassen's books come to mind) and there wasn't anything special this; the story didn't feel very original and there's one part where (spolier alert, ha) Leo tells the girl that he told her he was her imaginary friend but he's actually a ghost and I thought, no, she assumed you were imaginary (where are the editors?). Anyway, I like to evaluate books before I gift them to my nieces and nephews (and keep a few favorites for myself) but I don't recommend this one. If I could send this back this with free return shipping I would.

Love this book. I purchased this for myself, I am an illustrator (not to mention a big ghost story fan) and always looking to increase my personal book collection. The simplicity of this book in its illustrations and story line; the ability to introduce the concept of ghosts to young readers in a completely innocent, non-scary and matter-of-fact way makes it an instant favorite. I also brought this into work (preschool classroom) to share with the other teachers and they also loved it. I highly recommend this book to readers of any age!

Oh WOW I love this book. Like many of my favorite modern picture books, it has a timeless quality that would make it at home with classic Tomi Ungerer and Russell Hoban, but which also has feet firmly planted in 2015. A terrific story about friendship, identity, and what life (or, I suppose afterlife) is all about. And no surpise: Christian Robinson's illustrations are phenomenal. Highly, highly recommended.

I purchased this book because of the rave reviews but after receiving it and reading it to my boys, I wondered why so many five stars. The story is simple and basic, colors are muted, and my boys were really not interested. They haven't asked me to read it again, which isn't typical of them. An example of a book I would give five stars to is Mustache Baby.

Unique, fun story! Kept my ghost-obsessed 5 year old's attention and he asks to read it again and again. It's nice that this story ends happily for Leo the ghost.

Great book - I am a huge fan of these illustrations

Beautifully moving story from two of the best.

Delightful

El libro es hermoso, las ilustraciones de Christian Robinson son increíbles.Es un libro que habla de crecimiento personal y sobre todo de amistad. Un niño fantasma (con un gran corazón) que aprende a vivir la vida y conoce nueva gente. Precioso

Storia molto bella che aiuta i bambini ad immaginare la presenza di altri, di persone diverse. Bellissima la figura del fantasma padrone di casa.