A gripping chapter book for early readers

She sees ghosts

Isabel Wixon is weird. Not only does she see dead things, but her list of friends consists of a talkative ventriloquist's dummy and the gentlemanly spider that lives in her hair.

Her best friend is a gentleman spider

Real friends? Too hard. Inventing friends is much easier.

An invention goes horribly wrong

Inventing the Boatman—a terrible monster that lures kids into a strange sleeping sickness and never lets them go—probably wasn't one of her better ideas though.