Review of MILROSE MUNCE AND THE DEN OF PROFESSIONAL HELP by Douglas Anthony Cooper

Doubleday Canada, May 2007

School is boring for Milrose Munce, but he fights the bordom by chatting with the ghosts of students past, especially third floor ghosts... mostly famous for blowing themselves up or otherwise destroying themselves in glorious style. The second floor ghosts are poetic souls...not of much interest, and the basement ghosts are jocks. As for the first floor, well, none of the ghosts talk about that floor very much.

Unfortunately for Milrose, talking with ghosts, laughing at their jokes, even slapping them good-humoredly on the back, are not seen as normal behavior. Eventually, the school administrator decides it's time Milrose had professional help. The good news is, another student is assigned professional help at the same time. The better news, she's an attractive girl. As for bad news, well, there's almost no end to it, starting with the so-called 'professional' who appears to be a fraud, but culminating with the discovery that all of the students assigned professional help were cured exactly three months after admission...with no evidence of any improvement before that sudden 'cure.' With the clock running out, Milrose and Arabella have to get in contact with the ghosts, learn the secret of the first floor, and somehow escape the cure worse than death.

Author Douglas Anthony Cooper creates a charming and clever story with Milrose standing for many bookish preteens and teens, Anabella a love interest with her own personality, and a really nasty secret on the verge of getting out and swamping everything. MILROSE is aimed at the young adult reader, but the gentle humor will appeal to adult readers as well.

Four Stars

Reviewed 6/17/10

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