Gus (Augusta) fell in love the moment she saw it.
The thing was around a metre and a half high and made of metal and glass. It had discs and cylinders, boxes and orbs as well as cogs and wheels, and was like something out of science fiction…
The 35mm projector, surrounded by circular tins of movie film is the heart of the Calgary Starlight Drive-In Movie Theatre that Gus’s mother has just been employed to run. Gus has no idea how to use the old projector, but somehow it made her feel spangle-y inside.
It’s a nice feeling, so different from normal. Days before, her mum had piled Gus, her older sister Alice and younger brother Artie inside a stolen car with all their belongings and fled their home – again.
Gus didn’t blame her mum for running away. Not really. Moving from town to town every few months is stressful though, even if Gus has perfected the art of NOT making friends at each school she’s enrolled in. Mum’s special abilities may provide the money for them to live on, but too many times, her partners over the years have exploited them for their own benefits. Speaking to the dead for grieving relatives might be lucrative, but increasingly left Mum wrung out and exhausted.
Maybe the small town Drive-In will change things for them? Sure it needed cleaning up. Sure the on-site caravan which is to be their new home, spells like possum wee. Whispers of it being haunted probably don’t help much either. But Gus and her family don’t have any other options, and they get to work.
Gus’s first ghostly experience arrives soon after. The whispers are true. Henry, the old owner of the Drive-In appears in the projection room. Gus is frightened at first, but when he shows her how to use the projector, she listens carefully. Help also comes from a friendly local boy, and Gus begins to feel like this place could actually be a home.
As always though, their past isn’t far behind them, and it’s ready to snatch everything away – again, this time with the help of an angry local.
Gus and the Starlight is engaging from the very first page. An 11 yr old girl, her mum and sibling are running away, drawing instant empathy from the reader. The reason for their flight is unusual too, adding an intriguing string to the story. However their new home at a run-down Drive-In Movie Theatre is the setting and the base of this well-written, compelling, and many layered novel for middle-grade / tween readers.
With the constant threat of their past catching up with them, haunting rumours and skeptical locals, pressure is on this young family to bring the Drive-In back to life and maybe, find a real home.
Loved it!
Author – Victoria Carless
Age – 9+
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(2022, Harper Collins, Ghosts, Caravan, Movies, Drive-In, Psychic, Family, Siblings, Running away, New friends, Bullies, Bully, School, Mystery, Cafe, Riley’s Comet, Growing up, Turning 12, Stolen Car, Greed, Small town, End of the World)