The unique family at 43 Old Cemetery Road is back again, & this time, at least some of them are on a mission to show a new generation just how much fun a friendship based on letter writing can be. Although I suspect that at least one of the Klise sisters has a tween begging for a cell phone somewhere, the book does a good job of poking gentle fun at the increasing usage of voicemail, instant messaging, & texting instead of the more old-fashioned methods of communication, & the epistolary style of these books may actually succeed in getting the point across - though I'm not sure that it's going to have kids getting atrophied texting fingers any time soon. This is the first book I've read in the series (it was on our new shelf at the library), and it is so charming! It is written in letters, emails, and newspaper clippings, which is a style of interest to me because of the popularity of "diary" books. The series revolves around three main characters who live in an old mansion, Ignatius (Iggy) Grumply; Seymour, a young boy; and Olive, who is a ghost. They live without modern technology, and Olive writes stories that are solely delivered by snail mail and are immensely popular (there is a certain excitement in getting real mail, that's for sure). In this book, the post office is being forced to close, in hopes to be replaced with a faulty technology called VEXT-mail (it's a veil), which Olive is very against. Another mysterious character is also against the move to complete virtual/digital service and begins writing letters to Olive from post office box 5 signed as the Phantom (play on the Phantom of the Opera, which I had the privilege to see in the 7th grade in SF). I just love all the humor in this book: the names of the characters and word play are nerdtastic. This is also a good book to explain to children about technological changes and how not all people have fancy gadgets. As a public library staff person/reference librarian at a small community college, the digital divide is definitely alive.
What do You think about Das Phantom Im Postamt (2012)?
This was the cutest book! Great for younger middle graders.review to come.
—Jp926967
this book was great. can't wait to finish series
—Wyonna
