Ferris (a Heartfelt and Humorous Middle-Grade Coming-Of-Age Novel about Family, Ghosts, and Growing Up – for Kids Ages 8-12 in Grades 3-7)

Two-time Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo delivers a tender, luminous novel about the summer everything changes—and somehow, miraculously, comes together.

Ferris Wilkey’s summer before fifth grade is unraveling in the most spectacular way. Her little sister Pinky has declared herself an outlaw (and means it). Uncle Ted is camping in the basement, painting an ambitious history of the world and nursing a broken heart. And most worrying of all, Ferris’s beloved grandmother Charisse is seeing a ghost at her bedroom door—a specter with plans of her own.

What follows is a story brimming with heart, humor, and the kind of quiet magic DiCamillo does best. Between raccoon invasions, espionage missions to spy on Aunt Shirley, and Pinky’s escalating schemes, Ferris navigates the beautiful chaos of a multigenerational household where love is messy, grief is present, and ghosts might just be messengers of hope.

Kirkus Reviews (starred) praised DiCamillo’s “gift for conveying an entire person and world in a few brushstrokes,” calling Ferris “tenderly resonant and memorable.” This is DiCamillo at her most playful and profound—a story about family, loss, and the wild, impractical, illuminating ways we show up for each other.

Perfect for readers ages 8-12 who are ready for a story that will make them laugh, think, and feel deeply. Because as Charisse says, “Every good story is a love story”—and this one will linger long after the last page.

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