Ghosts (Raina Telgemeier)
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40 free Ghosts (Raina Telgemeier) trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Ghosts is the graphic novel in which Raina Telgemeier, best known for true stories about her own childhood, turned to fiction. Two sisters, cautious Cat and fearless Maya, move to the foggy coastal town of Bahía de la Luna, where the neighbours treat the dead as old acquaintances and the Day of the Dead is the biggest night of the year. This quiz follows the story from the drive north to the final celebration: the sisters and their parents, Carlos and his tour, what the spirits like and fear, and how Cat slowly changes her mind about them. Later questions cover how the book was made, the real places and traditions behind it, the prizes it won and the debate it started. It is written for readers who have just finished the book, and for teachers, librarians and parents who want a ready comprehension check for a class or a reading group. Play it on screen or print it, with every answer explained.
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Q 01In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, which illness does Cat's sister Maya have, the reason the family moves to the coast?
Cystic fibrosis
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.
Q 02In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, which fizzy drink does Carlos bring on his tour because the shy spirits cannot resist it?
Orange soda
Orange soda is the spirits' great weakness: Carlos hands Maya a bottle and an opener, and the shy figures crowd round her at once.
Q 03On Halloween in Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, Cat dresses up as which Day of the Dead icon?
La Catrina
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.
Q 04In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, where does Carlos take Cat and Maya on the tour that first shows them real spirits?
An old mission
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.
Q 05Before Ghosts, which Raina Telgemeier memoir, begun as a weekly webcomic, first made her name?
Smile
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.
Q 06Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts builds to the Day of the Dead, when which bloom, called flower of the dead, adorns altars?
Marigolds
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.
Q 07Early in Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, Maya is scolded by her wary older sister for running ahead to pet which animal?
A black cat
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.
Q 08Raina Telgemeier left pages of Ghosts blank until she attended a Day of the Dead procession in which hometown?
San Francisco
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.
Q 09In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, Carlos tells Maya that the shy spirits on his tour like to be greeted in which language?
Spanish
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.
Q 10In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, what about Bahía de la Luna do Cat's parents hope will ease Maya's illness?
Cool, salty sea air
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.
Q 11In 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
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.
Q 12In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, what is the name of the child spirit Maya befriends, who turns out to be Carlos's uncle?
José
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.
Q 13At the end of Telgemeier's Ghosts, home-cooked food appears beside the altar for which late relative of Cat and Maya?
Their grandmother
Q 21On the drive north that opens Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, why is Cat unhappy about the move?
She misses her friends
She misses her friends back in southern California. She understands why the family has to go, though: her little sister's health comes first.
Q 22In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, why is Maya so keen to meet the spirits her sister dreads?
To ask about dying
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.
Q 23In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, which school year is Cat about to begin when her family arrives in Bahía de la Luna?
Their grandmother's customs had been allowed to lapse by the girls' mother. The mysterious dishes arrive only once the sisters have embraced them.
Q 14Near the end of Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, what does Cat give Carlos, showing her anger at him has melted?
A kiss on the cheek
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.
Q 15In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, where on their first walk around Bahía de la Luna do Cat and Maya run into Carlos?
An empty arcade
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.
Q 16In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, Cat and Maya's mother admits she regrets turning her back on what?
Her heritage
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.
Q 17Later in Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, which new piece of medical gear does Maya wear that shocks Cat's classmates?
An oxygen tube
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.
Q 18In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, the floaty, blob-like spirits turn into what once they warm to Maya on Carlos's tour?
Skeletons
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.
Q 19On Halloween in Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, Maya is kept home from trick-or-treating but still wears which costume?
An angel
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.
Q 20In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, the surname of Cat's neighbor Carlos, Calaveras, means what in English?
Skulls
Skulls is the literal meaning. One critic compared the choice to a family called Advent Calendar living in a town famous for elves.
Sixth grade
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.
Q 24In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, what does Maya bargain for when she is told she cannot go trick-or-treating?
Most of Cat's candy
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.
Q 25In Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts, which homemade dessert from the neighbors does Cat prod warily while Maya devours it?
Flan
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.
Q 26Raina Telgemeier says Cat in Ghosts shares which of her own struggles, later the subject of her memoir Guts?
Anxiety
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.
Q 27Raina Telgemeier wrote Ghosts partly in tribute to Sabina, who died of cancer at thirteen and was the author's what?
Her cousin
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.
Q 28Before Ghosts, Raina Telgemeier broke into publishing by adapting which bestselling book series into graphic novels?
The Baby-Sitters Club
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.
Q 29Which Scholastic graphic novel imprint, started in 2005, published Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts and her earlier books?
Graphix
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.
Q 30In 2017, Telgemeier's Ghosts won Best Publication for Kids at which ceremony, often called the Oscars of comics?
Eisner Awards
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.