Grandpere's Ghost Swamp

"A perfect recipe of humor, family connections, honoring the natural world, and a ghost with unfinished business." --Lynne Kelly, USA Today bestselling author of Song for a Whale

Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

Ferris meets Ghosts of Tupelo Landing in this cozy ghost story about family, environmental activism, food, and friendship.

Basil Theriot has spent her entire life in New Orleans--in her family's famed Cajun restaurant in the French Quarter, really--but she's never been out to the bayou where her grandfather grew up. She's also never seen a ghost, even though dozens of ghost tours pass by the restaurant every day and her best friend Tommy is determined to be a ghost hunter.

But then Grandpere's ghost appears. And he has a mission for her.

Basil wouldn't mind being haunted if Grandpere could be helpful and share his secret recipe that might save the restaurant. But instead, he's intent on connecting Basil with her Cajun heritage. He sends her out to the bayou to meet his friends: an airboat captain, a shrimper, and a scientist rebuilding Louisiana's fast-disappearing coastline.

For fans of Gracie Under the Waves and A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall, Grandpere's Ghost Swamp has a little bit of everything: a pinch of spookiness, a dash of environmental activism, and a heaping of family.

Author: Rachel M. Marsh
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Published: 03/24/2026
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 8.36h x 5.60w x 1.03d
ISBN: 9780063325432
Audience: Ages 9-12

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 4.6
Point Value: 8
Interest Level: Middle Grade
Quiz #/Name: 557801 / Grandpere's Ghost Swamp


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 02/01/2026
School Library Journal 01/30/2026 pg. 1
Booklist 03/01/2026
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 01/01/2026

About the Author
Marsh, Rachel M.: -

Rachel M. Marsh is the author of Rougarou Magic, which was a 2024 Junior Library Guild selection. She earned her MFA in creative writing for children from Simmons University. Originally from Baton Rouge, she now lives in New Orleans, where she and her husband eat the world's best food and renovate their almost-hundred-year-old house.