Booklists

CCBC Review:

Suraya is a lonely child with a sad, distracted mother. So when the pelesit (ghost) once bound to Suraya’s grandmother bonds with Suraya after the old woman’s death, its presence is welcomed by the little girl. She names the pelesit Pink and quickly grows to love him. Pink usually takes the form of a grasshopper and accompanies Suraya everywhere. Suraya’s grandmother used Pink to harm people. Even though he feels a bit uneasy about that part of his past, it’s a hard habit for Pink to break. When he hurts a group of kids who ignore Suraya, she forbids him from doing anything like it again. But Suraya makes her first good friend in Jing Wei, and jealous Pink can’t suppress his anger. When Suraya finally tells her mother about Pink, Suraya’s mother inadvertently invites a new threat when the healer she hopes can help sets out to capture Pink for his own evil purposes. Realizing the only answer is to lay Pink to rest once and for all, Suraya and Jing set off on a journey to find the grave of the child Pink once was. Suraya is exceptionally characterized from early childhood to the verge of adolescence in this fantasy grounded in Malaysian culture that balances genuinely scary elements with bright humor (such as Jing’s obsession with Star Wars) and deep feeling. ©2021 Cooperative Children’s Book Center

CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 9-12
Age Range: Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10) Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-13)
Format: Novel
Subjects: Fantasy Friendship Grandmothers Loneliness Malaysians and Malaysian Americans Mothers Scary Stories Supernatural
Diversity subject: Asian Muslim

Publishers: Harper, HarperCollins
Publish Year: 2020
Pages: 275
ISBN: 9780062940957
CCBC Location: Fiction, Alkaf

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