Ghost Circus

Written by Adrienne Kress

Illustrated by Jade Zhang

Union Square Kids

978-1-4549-4829-2

256 pp.

Ages 9–13

August 2025 

 

When Casey, a living boy, finds himself in the stands of a ghost circus, he is confused, as is Creepy Girl, a ghost with hollow eyes, who finds him. He'd already had a weird day where the school bus driver didn't see him and his classmate Emily presented their project without him. Now he's at the circus, which is filled with ghost performers, and Creepy Girl, with a little friend called Polterghost, is trying to help him, though not understanding herself why a boy who is not dead can interact with the ghost world.

From Ghost Circus, written by Adrienne Kress, illustrated by Jade Zhang

Being the only ghosts who can leave the circus, Creepy Girl and Polterghost follow Casey as he heads home. There he finds his distraught parents and a clue that leads him to the hospital where Casey lays in a coma. But he cannot re-enter his body, though he tries. When Casey realizes the Headless Horseman is following him, he and his new friends return to the Ghost Circus  where the Horseman cannot enter. 

 

At the Ghost Circus, Creepy Girl introduces Casey to several performers, hoping they might help them. First, there is Madame Avenire, the fortune teller, who had always told Creepy Girl that she had a mission to help a lost child. 

In my living days I told people their future. Now I tell them their pasts. 

The living and the dead are the same in that way...never existing in the present. (p. 79)

From Ghost Circus, written by Adrienne Kress, illustrated by Jade Zhang

It's only when they speak with the Elephant, who reveals how he joined the circus and how it has evolved over time, that Casey and Creepy Girl realize what has been happening, who the Headless Horseman seeks, and what they must do.

While Ghost Circus is in essence a ghost story, it has greater depth to it. Both Creepy Girl and Casey are on the hunt for answers. Creepy Girl doesn't know who she was and why she cannot cross over while Casey wants to know if he is going to die because he can't re-enter his body. Both are immersed in fear for what has happened and what will happen. That fear pervades their attitudes in different ways. At the onset, Casey is rude, annoyed that Creepy Girl doesn't understand what he's feeling and that she doesn't have all the answers he needs. Creepy Girl, on the other hand, seems to be nonchalant about his situation, not understanding what's happening and why she's involved when she's not a part of his story. But with time, Creepy Girl begins to understand her mission and Casey sees that others have their own stories and fears. By seeing beyond themselves and helping others, the two with Polterghost, who always has a benevolence to others, gain in understanding and start to make things right. 

From Ghost Circus, written by Adrienne Kress, illustrated by Jade Zhang

It's been too long since I've reviewed an Adrienne Kress story, and I'm so pleased to review Ghost Circus, her debut graphic novel. (Her bibliography to date includes young adult novels like The Friday Society and Outcast, and middle grade series like The Explorer Society, Ticket to Ride and Bendy.) She does have a wonderful penchant for the fantastical and I'm seeing a little more creepiness in her stories, but it's not creepy. It's the kind that titillates and entertains and will engage young readers completely. While not a horror story, Ghost Circus has the supernatural elements that might evoke unease, especially when dealing with the ghosts—Creepy Girl has hollow eyes, there's a guy with a giant hole in his torso as if from a cannon ball, and the Headless Horseman is definitely one to fear—but never scares. Rather, Adrienne Kress and Ghost Circus make us think. They make us think about the Between, that space between living and crossing over; about those who take all our energy for themselves; and how by helping others we can do much to help ourselves.  

From Ghost Circus, written by Adrienne Kress, illustrated by Jade Zhang

Jade Zhang, a Toronto visual artist, keeps the chill of Adrienne Kress's story but she makes it playful and fresh with her choice of colours and softness of line and shape. Creepy Girl has creepy elements to her, as do most of the ghosts, especially when depicted in their blueness, but Creepy Girl generally looks like a naive girl with big eyes. And Polterghost is adorable. He's small and friendly and helpful. (See him try to give an apple to the Headless Horseman's horse in the illustration above.) Jade Zhang keeps the yucky for those characters that are truly vile. 

 

Though Adrienne Kress resolves Casey's story, and relatively happily, it looks like there will be a sequel to Ghost Circus. Casey tells Creepy Girl that "We'll figure out what's going on" (p. 247) and I foresee another "lively" story (pun intended) starring our new favourite trio of characters, perhaps to discover Creepy Girl's origin story. (I'll just be happy to call her something other than Creepy Girl.)