If I Have to Be Haunted

July 31, 2023
Almost-17-year-old Chinese American Cara Tang is a ghost speaker—a human who can communicate with the dead—who lives in Autumn Falls with her single mother. Though Cara’s late laolao believed that she should use her powers to help spirits, Cara’s mother insists that she suppress her abilities to focus on school. Mom also admonishes Cara for getting into arguments with classmates, particularly white-cued swim captain Zacharias Coleson. Following a series of unnerving events leading up to Halloween, Cara finds Zach’s ghost and dead body in the nearby woods. After being bitten by a Signet Snake—described by Laolao as “an intelligent agent of chaos”—Zach becomes trapped between life and death, with only seven days to find an antidote to resurrect him. Cara agrees to help, sending the two on a mission to a liminal world where they must battle carnivorous shopkeepers and monstrous plants to obtain the cure before time runs out. Descriptions of the spirit world are often repetitive, stemming narrative momentum, but debut author Sun keeps the character dynamics feeling fresh and energetic via snappy dialogue and descriptions of Cara’s growing into her powers. Ages 13–up. Agent: Paige Terlip, Andrea Brown Literary.