The Ghost, the White House, and Me by Judith St. George

Booktalk version: KayKay Granger and her family have just moved into the White House, and immediately become caught up in a mystery involving the ghost of Abraham Lincoln. Readers interested in the presidents and the history of the White House will find interesting facts throughout the story, while KayKay is exploring her new home and trying to find out if the White House is haunted!

Full-length version: Judith St. George is known for her book So You Want to be President? which won a Caldecott Medal for illustrator David Small in 2001, and she has put that research into good use in The Ghost, the White House, and Me. Bits and pieces of presidential history are woven into a story that involves possible ghosts in the White House.

KayKay Granger and her family have just moved into the White House, as her mother was recently inaugurated as the President of the United States. KayKay, or Katherine, as her mother usually calls her, has a younger sister, Annie, and together they are discovering what life is like inside the White House. Readers get a good idea of what their daily life is like, plus some of the off limits areas of the White House are described in the course of their adventures.

The book is more of an adventure with some mystery elements, as KayKay and her sister try to find out if Abraham Lincoln's ghost is haunting the Lincoln Bedroom in the White House. Their family is still sorting out their dynamics after becoming the First Family, and some of the girls' sleuthing is impeded by their mother's need for the family to always be proper and polite. When a prank involving their Uncle Matt, the President's brother, the girls have to find new friends and new ways to continue their adventuring.

The presidential information is included within conversations and KayKay's research, and does not seem out of place within the story. People who live in the White House would naturally discuss the history and the people who have lived there. This book might encourage a reader to follow up with more research on a president, as it does for KayKay.

This was a fun look into the inner workings of the White House and a presidential family, with a mysterious supernatural adventure included.