*Ferris by Kate DiCamillo

Ferris, the latest novel by two-time Newbery author Kate DiCamillo, embraces a world full of sorrow but ruled by love.

*Ferris by Kate DiCamillo. Candlewick, 2024, 226 pages.

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10

Recommended for: Ages 6-10 as a read-aloud, ages 8-12 for independent readers

It was the summer that the ghost appeared to Charisse, the summer that Ferris’s sister, Pinky Wilkey, devoted herself to becoming an outlaw, and the summer that Uncle Ted left Aunt Shirley and moved into the Wilkey basement to paint a history of the world.

There’s a reason Emma Phineas Wilkey is called Ferris: she was born on the county fairgrounds, under the Ferris wheel (it was very nearly on the Ferris wheel, but that’s another story). That detail, and the above paragraph from the first page, should tell readers they’re in for a quirky tale with quirky characters, set some decades ago. (My first clue as to setting is that Ferris’s mother collects S&H Green Stamps, as my mother did; a common practice that disappeared sometime in the 1980s). Ferris’s world is populated by her pragmatist mom and romantic dad, her loving grandmother Charisse and her best friend Billy Jackson, who hears piano music in his head all the time.

The main plot thread involves that ghost appearing in Charisse’s bedroom, but it’s not a spooky ghost. It’s a melancholy one who’s still grieving a tragic loss, and there may be a way that Ferris and her family can help. But something should also be done about Pinky, who’s nowhere near as sweet-tempered as her big sister. And Uncle Ted, whose efforts to paint a history of the world have so far resulted in one painted foot. And the racoon in the attic.

Losing loved ones is a major theme, but also loving lost ones and the difficult ones under one’s own roof and the entire tragical, beautiful world that surrounds one. “Every story is a love story,” says Charisse, more than once, and by this story’s end Ferris knows it’s true. Though a loving Creator is never mentioned by name, he abides in a world that’s bigger and more wonderful than any of us can ever know.

Overall Rating: 4.75 (out of 5)

• Worldview/moral value: 4.5
• Artistic/literary value: 5

Read more about our ratings here.

Also at Redeemed Reader:

• Reviews: LOTS of books by DiCamillo! Her latest was The Puppets of Spelhorst,  Also see the Tales from Duckawoo Drive chapter-book series (starred review) and the Raymie Nightengale series for middle-graders. We especially like (and starred) The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, which has a theme very similar to Ferris.

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