Dying to Meet You (43 Old Cemetery Road Series #1) »

KATE KLISE is an author of many genres. She has written picture books, as well as middle-grade novels, all illustrated by her sister, Sarah. She has also written two young adult novels and is a freelance reporter for People magazine. Kate lives and writes in Norwood, Missouri.
www.kateandsarahklise.com

M. SARAH KLISE is the talented illustrator of many picture books and middle-grade novels written by her sister, Kate. She also teaches art classes near her home in Berkeley, California.

www.kateandsarahklise.com

Ignatius B. Grumply moves into the Victorian mansion at 43 Old Cemetery Road hoping to find some peace and quiet so he can crack a wicked case of writer's block. But 43 Old Cemetery Road is already occupied by eleven-year-old Seymour, his cat Shadow, and an irritable ghost named Olive. It's hard to say who is more outraged. But a grumpy old ghost just might inspire this grumpy old man—and the abandoned kid? Well, let's just say his last name's Hope.
Sisters Kate and M. Sarah Klise, the creators of the award-winning Regarding the . . . series, offer up this debut volume in a clever new series told in letters, drawings, newspaper articles, a work-in-progress manuscript, and even an occasional tombstone engraving.

KATE KLISE and M. SARAH KLISE have collaborated on several picture books and a number of popular middle grade novels, including Trial by Journal and Letters from Camp, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. Kate, who is a correspondent for People magazine, lives in Norwood, Missouri. Sarah, who is an art teacher, lives in Berkeley, California.

www.kateandsarahklise.com

Publishers Weekly

This fresh, funny launch of the 43 Old Cemetery Road series introduces an eccentric cast with pun-tastic names. I.B. Grumply, a cranky children's book author with writer's block, rents a dilapidated Victorian mansion (from realtor Anita Sale) in the town of Ghastly in hopes of writing an addition to his Ghost Tamers series (publisher: Paige Turner). He discovers that the owners have left their son Seymour behind while-in one of several ironic twists-they tour Europe debunking the existence of ghosts. Seymour does indeed "see more" than others: he has befriended Olive C. Spence, a feisty ghost who has vowed to haunt the house until she accomplishes what she couldn't in life-publish a book. As in the "Regarding the..." series, written by these sibling collaborators, the story unfolds through characters' correspondence ("The man is impossible! I should've dropped THREE chandeliers on his head," Olive writes Seymour about Grumply) as well as other documents, including illustrated pages from the local tabloid. Despite a slightly sappy denouement, the story is light enough for more tentative readers, with many humorous details to reward those who look closer. Ages 8-12. (Apr.)

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