books about ghosts in which the villain’s name is jack

During my break from college, I binge read as many books as I could fit into a three-week period. After a semester of High Quality Literature in academia, I couldn’t wait for the more easily digestible adventure-fantasy books I grew up reading. There’s something remarkable about an author who can take a book marketed for children and bring it into adulthood, too. Not all juvenile fiction books outlast aging, but the ones that do are the kind of literal marvels that I’ll be reading and re-reading until I die. Somehow, I managed to find two supernatural fantasy books in my local library – accidentally, mind you – that featured men named Jack as the main antagonist. I don’t believe in coincidences, so apologies to all the Jacks I know that I will never trust ever again.

The first book I read was called Constable & Toop by Gareth P. Jones. His Jack was based on Jack the Ripper and set in mid-19th century London. The chapters flip back and forth between an entire cast of characters as they investigate the Black Rot, a plague sweeping through the streets that only affects ghosts. It was a little dark for being a literal J FIC (as you’d expect from any book featuring the Ripper), but I was into it. Also, it featured my new favorite concept: ghost dogs. Constable & Toop addresses a lot of issues that we run into in life: the pitfalls of bureaucracy, the struggle of deciding just how much family matters, and that constant question: what happens when we die? Jones treats death with a refreshingly casual tone, which stands out against a sea of depressing stories centered around the conclusion of a life. Constable & Toop is, in many ways, about the beginning of new life even at the end, which was one of the more unique concepts I’ve seen lately.

The second of the Jacks comes in The Graveyard Book. It’s not new to the world, but it was new to me and I could not put it down. Neil Gaiman introduces us to Nobody Owens, a boy raised by ghosts and other dangerous creatures you’d expect to meet in a graveyard, if you expect that sort of thing from graveyards. We stick with Bod from infancy to the middle of his teenage years and somehow, we identify with him along the way, even though most of us (hopefully?) didn’t grow up in cemeteries. There’s a lot of growing pains without real stakes until the end of the novel, which lays bare the lesson we’re supposed to draw from it. We have one life and it is ours to adventure with, to see the world, to make mistakes and step outside of our own graveyards. Nothing new ever enters an old cemetery, but you are alive and loved, even by the most invisible of people; it’s just up to you to take the first step out and into an infinite world, just as Bod does. This kid’s book is downright inspirational in its last chapter.

I felt content after my book binge, but nowhere near satisfied. I haven’t read so many J/YA books in such a strong concentration in years, but the break brought me back to my elementary and middle school days that were mostly just me, reading in class instead of listening to my teachers. And as much as I want to live in that place forever, I’m guess I’m paying for an actual education or whatever.

I’d greatly appreciate any book recommendations you’ve got! I plan to do more book introductions for some of my all-time favorites, as well as new novels I meet along the way. For now, I’ll channel Bod and find my own adventures.

#books #juvenilefiction #jfic #ya #neilgaiman #garethpjones #reallifebooks