40 Fun Facts About Ghosts (Raina Telgemeier)

In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, which illness does Cat's sister Maya have, the reason the family moves to the coast?

Cystic fibrosis is something Maya was born with, and it has no cure. Even so, she is the adventurous sister of the two, while healthy Cat is the cautious one.

In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, which fizzy drink does Carlos bring on his tour because the shy spirits cannot resist it?

Orange soda is the spirits' great weakness: Carlos hands Maya a bottle and an opener, and the shy figures crowd round her at once.

On Halloween in Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, Cat dresses up as which Day of the Dead icon?

La Catrina, the grand lady of the Day of the Dead, began as a print mocking Mexico's wealthy. Cat only learns she shares the name after moving to Bahía de la Luna.

In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, where does Carlos take Cat and Maya on the tour that first shows them real spirits?

An old mission is where the town's spirits like to gather. Critics said the book glossed over the harsh history of California's missions, and Telgemeier answered with an essay owning her blind spots.

Before Ghosts, which Raina Telgemeier memoir, begun as a weekly webcomic, first made her name?

Smile began as a weekly webcomic about knocking out her front teeth and the years of dental work that followed. Ghosts was a sharp turn from that true-to-life style into a story where the dead walk about.

Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts builds to the Day of the Dead, when which bloom, called flower of the dead, adorns altars?

Marigolds, known as cempasúchil, are believed to guide souls home with their bright petals and strong scent. Telgemeier filled the book's festival scenes with what she saw at a real celebration.

Early in Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, Maya is scolded by her wary older sister for running ahead to pet which animal?

A black cat crossing their path alarms the superstitious older girl. It sets up the book's running contrast: Maya assumes the world is full of wonders, while her sister expects bad luck.

Raina Telgemeier left pages of Ghosts blank until she attended a Day of the Dead procession in which hometown?

San Francisco holds a Day of the Dead procession and Festival of Altars every year. Telgemeier called her visit one of the most moving nights of her life and added several pages afterwards.

In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, Carlos tells Maya that the shy spirits on his tour like to be greeted in which language?

Spanish is what Carlos says the spirits prefer, because most of the people buried there came from Mexico. Maya promptly calls out a cheerful hello in it.

In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, what about Bahía de la Luna do Cat's parents hope will ease Maya's illness?

Cool, salty sea air blowing in off the ocean is meant to help Maya. The price is gloom: the town is wrapped in fog, and the sun is said to shine there on only about two months' worth of days a year.

In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, how does Maya's first meeting with the town's spirits on Carlos's tour end for her?

She lands in hospital after a violent coughing fit, yet refuses to be afraid of the spirits afterwards. Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which sours things between them at school.

In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, what is the name of the child spirit Maya befriends, who turns out to be Carlos's uncle?

José died as a child, which is how a boy spirit can be Carlos's uncle. Maya confides in him her worry that Cat would be left all alone.

At the end of Telgemeier's Ghosts, home-cooked food appears beside the altar for which late relative of Cat and Maya?

Their grandmother's customs had been allowed to lapse by the girls' mother. The mysterious dishes arrive only once the sisters have embraced them.

Near the end of Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, what does Cat give Carlos, showing her anger at him has melted?

A kiss on the cheek shows how far Cat has come: for much of the book she blames Carlos for Maya's collapse and can barely face him at school.

In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, where on their first walk around Bahía de la Luna do Cat and Maya run into Carlos?

An empty arcade by the beach is where Carlos startles the sisters and starts talking about the town's dead. That same evening the family is due at his house for dinner.

In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, Cat and Maya's mother admits she regrets turning her back on what?

Her heritage slipped away through a rough relationship with her own mother. The move stirs up the customs they once shared, and she begins telling her daughters about them.

Later in Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, which new piece of medical gear does Maya wear that shocks Cat's classmates?

An oxygen tube and tank arrive about halfway through as a temporary measure, then quietly start to look permanent. It is the clearest sign that Maya's condition is getting worse.

In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, the floaty, blob-like spirits turn into what once they warm to Maya on Carlos's tour?

Skeletons are what the shy blobs become once they relax: grinning figures that hug and tickle Maya. Telgemeier lists a love of skeletons among the things that inspired the book.

On Halloween in Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, Maya is kept home from trick-or-treating but still wears which costume?

An angel is what Maya dresses as, a pointed choice in a book that ends with her future left uncertain. Her mother has ruled that she is not well enough to go out.

In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, the surname of Cat's neighbor Carlos, Calaveras, means what in English?

Skulls is the literal meaning. One critic compared the choice to a family called Advent Calendar living in a town famous for elves.

On the drive north that opens Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, why is Cat unhappy about the move?

She misses her friends back in southern California. She understands why the family has to go, though: her little sister's health comes first.

In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, why is Maya so keen to meet the spirits her sister dreads?

To ask about dying is Maya's real aim: she knows her illness will shorten her life and wants to hear from the dead what comes next. She frets less for herself than for how Cat will cope.

In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, which school year is Cat about to begin when her family arrives in Bahía de la Luna?

Sixth grade is also the year in which Telgemeier's own dental accident happened, the one she turned into her first memoir. Cat starts it without Maya, who is too ill to go to school.

In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, what does Maya bargain for when she is told she cannot go trick-or-treating?

Most of Cat's candy, three-quarters of it, is the price Maya extracts for staying behind. She turns her anger at being left out into a hard bargain.

In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, which homemade dessert from the neighbors does Cat prod warily while Maya devours it?

Flan from next door gets a critical poke from Cat, who watches it wiggle. It is typical of the small, cringe-making moments of early adolescence the book is good at catching.

Raina Telgemeier says Cat in Ghosts shares which of her own struggles, later the subject of her memoir Guts?

Anxiety is what Cat inherits from her creator, who admits to a long list of fears and phobias. Telgemeier says it makes Cat sometimes forget to stop and breathe deeply.

Raina Telgemeier wrote Ghosts partly in tribute to Sabina, who died of cancer at thirteen and was the author's what?

Her cousin Sabina is remembered inside the story too: a note left on a tree at the Day of the Dead celebration is addressed to her. Telgemeier says fearless Maya shares some of her light.

Before Ghosts, Raina Telgemeier broke into publishing by adapting which bestselling book series into graphic novels?

The Baby-Sitters Club was a childhood favorite of Telgemeier's, and four adaptations of it came before her own stories. The advances let her quit her day job and draw full time.

Which Scholastic graphic novel imprint, started in 2005, published Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts and her earlier books?

Graphix was only a year old when it published Telgemeier's first graphic novel. By the time of Ghosts, her previous three had all topped the New York Times bestseller list.

In 2017, Telgemeier's Ghosts won Best Publication for Kids at which ceremony, often called the Oscars of comics?

Eisner Awards are named for the pioneering cartoonist Will Eisner, who attended the ceremony himself until his death. Ghosts was the third of Telgemeier's books to win one.

Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts sets real spirits in an everyday town, a break from her memoirs into which literary style?

Magical realism crept up on Telgemeier, who says she was never drawn to fantasy and was happiest writing about real life. As a child she gravitated to Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary.

Raina Telgemeier drew Ghosts herself, but which colorist supplied its darker palette of blues and grays?

Braden Lamb also colored Sisters and Guts for Telgemeier. One reviewer read his darker palette here as a hint of the sadness running under the story.

In 2017 Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts won a kids' comics award named for which late co-founder of Milestone Media?

Dwayne McDuffie championed diversity in comics, and Telgemeier honored that as she accepted: she recommended ten graphic novels by diverse creators and gave away 100 copies to the audience.

What name is given to the home altar for a dead relative that Cat's family sets up in Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts?

Ofrenda means offering: the altar is laid with keepsakes and the favorite foods and drinks of the person remembered, as a welcome home.

Raina Telgemeier, creator of Ghosts, says she does not believe in spirits herself but does believe in which force?

Memories, she says, are a very powerful force. She adds that everyone gets to believe what they like, and that believing in something comforting beats believing in something frightening.

Researching Ghosts on a road trip up the California coast, Raina Telgemeier came home with a couple of thousand what?

Photographs of quirky spots and hidden corners, not sweeping views, were what she was after. She also wanted to capture the summer fog she had disliked while growing up.

In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, when does Maya receive the liquid supplement fed through a port in her stomach?

While she sleeps, the supplement drips in, a routine the family treats as an ordinary part of the evening. Maya cheerfully asks to shake the can herself.

At the neighbors' dinner in Telgemeier's Ghosts, which instrument does Carlos play with Maya while the adults talk?

Maracas keep Carlos and Maya busy while Cat sits apart with the chips and guacamole. She had not wanted to come to the dinner at all.

Which cartoonist co-wrote the 2025 graphic novel The Cartoonists Club with Ghosts creator Raina Telgemeier?

Scott McCloud, author of Understanding Comics, joined Telgemeier for a story about four kids in a school comics club that doubles as a how-to manual for young comics makers.

Ghosts creator Raina Telgemeier calls her earliest comics a rip-off of For Better or For Worse, by which cartoonist?

Lynn Johnston let serious, even tragic things happen to her characters and still ended on a lighter note, a balance Telgemeier says shaped her own view of life.