Even so, Milo is getting old enough to notice their humanity and recognize when they, too, need support. Milo’s parents are still doing the tough work here of giving Milo space to be independent while still being supportive. I’ve already said how much I love these characters – Betsy Bird talked eloquently in her review of Greenglass House at a Fuse #8 Production about how Milford breaks the rules about parents in middle grade novels needing to be dead or incompetent. Can Milo find his courage again? And can he solve the mysteries without his old adventuring partner? It’s an old Nagspeake Christmas tradition (I love old traditions!) – but as ash from the untrained sweep spreads over the living room and one of the guests passes out after drinking his own punch, things veer back to craziness.
Then, a group of Waits arrives at the door, including caroling, a chimney sweep, and a spooky skull hobby horse. They were looking for a cache left by legendary smuggler Violet Cross, including her rumored derroterro, a map to the unmappable waterways around Nagspeake. Things start to head back towards the kind of Greenglass Christmas we remember when old friends Clem and Georgie show up after a caper gone wrong, needing a place to hunker down for a few days. Under all that, Milo is dealing with discomfort at a teacher who’s been singling him out for being Chinese and adopted. There’s been no sign of his friend Meddy since last year, there’s no snow, and an overly enthusiastic art student has decided to extend his stay to keep sketching the windows. Milo is home for the holidays and feeling grinchy.
In the book, just a year has passed since the tumultuous events of Greenglass House. Ghosts of Greenglass House by Kate Milford. And then I saved it until right before Christmas – a perfect holiday book, both revisit beloved characters and to rejoice that as crazy as the holidays are at my house, at least they’re less crazy than Milo’s Christmas. The publisher was even kind enough to give me a review copy, as it’s popular enough at my library that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get a library copy in time. I was very excited that the new book was nominated for the Cybils, so that I had to read it. It’s been three long years since we were first introduced to Milo Pine and his parents in their fabulous inn at Greenglass House.
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