Differences! The Little Ghost Who Was a Quilt by Riel Nason

ONCE THERE WAS A LITTLE GHOST WHO WAS A QUILT.

His mom and dad were wispy white, like all his friends, who easily whirled and flew with ease around him. He was heavy and not a fast or strong flyer. His parents pointed out that one of their ancestors was a checkered tablecloth and that his grandmother was an elegant lace tablecloth, but that did not help.

THE LITTLE GHOST DIDN'T LIKE BEING DIFFERENT.

BUT THERE WAS ONE DAY IN THE YEAR THAT ALWAYS CHEERED HIM UP--HALLOWEEN!

It was great! The children a came out as soon as it was dark, dressed as ghosts. Everyone made ghost decorations to hang in the trees, and all his friends loved to hang around unnoticed in the trees to watch everything that happened. The little ghost who was a quilt was sad that he couldn't do that, but he always tried to find some place, like a clothesline, to hang around, too. This year he managed to fold himself over a porch rail so that he could see what the kids were doing when they rang the doorbells.

All was well until a woman dressed as a witch and a little girl in a tutu came up on the porch. The little girl complained of being cold, so as they left her mother picked up the little ghost who was a quilt and wrapped him around her and took them back to their house, where the little girl sorted her candy and wiped her chocolatey hands all over him. But he felt strangely cozy, when, after the little girl fell asleep, her mother folded him gently, admiring his colors. Then he was alone and he slipped up the chimney and flew back home.

THE LITTLE GHOST'S FRIENDS RUSHED TO HEAR EVERY DETAIL OF HIS ADVENTURE.

THEY FLEW SLOWLY WITH HIM ALL THE WAY HOME.

It had all happened because he was different sort of ghost. And now what a Halloween tale he has to tell, in Reil Nason's The Little Ghost Who Was a Quilt (Tundra Books, 2020). Author Nason's ghost story about being a bit different from peers has a lovely theme told unself-consciously in perfect harmony with the illustrations by Byron Eggenschwaler, in which the author makes good use of the focus on the little ghost quilt, its pleasing blue and white pattern standing out against the darker muted shades, which sets up the differences that readers see on each page.

Publishers Weekly calls this gentle Halloween story "... a pleasant, slightly eerie world where the ghosts’ cobwebbed haunted house and a contemporary neighborhood fit comfortably together."