Goldfish Ghost by Lemony Snicket (review)

As the result of an easily inferred turn of events, “Goldfish Ghost was born on the surface of the water in a bowl on the dresser in a boy’s room.” Lonely with no one to talk to, he floats (belly up, of course) out the window and to various stops in the seaside town. However, neither the noisy gulls at the pier, the families at the beach, nor even the ghostly fish are the right fit for him (“It can be hard to find the company you are looking for”). Finally he’s invited into the lighthouse (that “everyone said was haunted”) by the ghost of the lighthouse keeper, and the two make a happy haunted home together. The tone of the measured text perfects this odd story: confident, quiet, and slightly formal, it’s surprisingly touching as the ghost fish moves on regretfully from encounters with animals that are “not good company.” Line and watercolor art gives Goldfish Ghost an unexpected robustness as he palely wafts through the steely sky, balanced by the busyness of the earthly scenes below him; he’s a reassuringly homey and accessible ghost even in his un-earthly state. Like Snicket’s The Dark (BCCB 6/13), this could be a way to make uncomfortable spaces friendlier; it’s also a logical go-to for smaller pet death, and adults who come to snicker will leave unexpectedly moved.