Scritch Scratch by Lindsay Currie

My name is Claire, and my father quit his job to start a ghost tour business. I hate graveyards and the paranormal, and my dad's job can be very embarrassing for a middle grade girl. Then everything changed when I had to help with one of his tours. I saw a little boy dressed in white, felt chilly and wet, and the number 396 was on a little piece of paper. After unexplainable things happened at home, I'm forced to admit that I'm being haunted. I don't know what I'm supposed to do about the ghost, but I've been hiding in my closet to sleep at night. I can't tell my dad about it, because I bet he'll just add our house to his ghost tour. I've got to do something, since I'm starting to see the ghost at school too. I wish I could talk to my best friend, but I'm not sure if she still likes me. What can I do?

This book is a historical ghost story, as it's based on an actual, tragic event in Chicago. I've heard of it, so that made the story even more interesting for me. Claire is a typical middle grade character, complete with the relationship drama. Her problem is that she assumes she knows what other characters are thinking, so she makes decisions based on flawed logic. She also has an ironic fear of things related to death, since her father's business is associated with the dead. She has the common middle grade character issue of believing she can't ask adults to help with her problems. Adults don't understand kid problems, even though all adults were once kids. The plot isn't overly scary, although it has its moments of tension. It includes a redeeming message about friendship and not evaluating people based on your own prejudices. Overall, this was an eerie and entertaining book, and I recommend you give it a shot.