= Partner SiteGhost Squad Reading Level: A Complete Guide
Ghost Squad, written by Claribel A. Ortega, is a 256-page Halloween supernatural fantasy about twelve-year-old Lucely Luna, whose Dominican family’s ancestors live on as firefly ghosts in the old tree beside their house in St. Augustine, Florida. When Lucely and her best friend Syd accidentally cast a spell that unleashes malevolent spirits on the town, they must team up with Syd’s witch grandmother Babette and her cat Chunk — and with Lucely’s firefly ancestors — to reverse the curse before it’s too late. Described by its publisher as “Coco meets Stranger Things with a hint of Ghostbusters,” it is a warm, funny, genuinely spooky middle-grade debut rooted in Dominican folklore and the specific magic of a multigenerational family whose dead have not entirely left. A New York Times bestseller, winner of the Pura Belpré Award honor recognition, and one of the most-recommended Halloween middle-grade reads in recent years. This guide covers reading level, age appropriateness, content, themes, and similar books.
For Parents
A warm, funny Halloween supernatural adventure rooted in Dominican family heritage and folklore — about a girl whose ancestors appear as fireflies and who accidentally unleashes something worse. Ages 8–12, grades 4–6. Content: genuinely spooky with some horror-adjacent imagery; one scene involves a bloody wound. The warmth and humor balance the spooky elements. A natural Halloween read-aloud.
For Teachers
A grades 4–6 classroom text for Halloween units and for diverse literature initiatives — one of the most warmly reviewed middle-grade fantasies featuring a Dominican American protagonist and ancestor worship traditions rooted in real cultural practice. The multigenerational family theme and the relationship between the living and the dead are rich for discussion. Pairs naturally with Coco as a companion text.
Ghost Squad at a Glance
Find on Amazon →| Author | Claribel A. Ortega |
| Published | 2020 (Scholastic Press) |
| Grade Level | 4–6 (our assessment) |
| Recommended Age | 8–12 |
| Lexile | 810L |
| ATOS Level | 5.5 |
| Pages | 256–272 (editions vary) |
| Genre | Middle grade fantasy / supernatural / Halloween |
| Setting | St. Augustine, Florida; October |
For official Lexile and AR levels, visit Lexile.com or AR BookFinder. ReadingVine provides independent editorial assessments.
What Reading Level Is Ghost Squad?
Lexile 810L, ATOS 5.5, interest level grades 3–7. Our assessment: grades 4–6, ages 8–12. The 810L is somewhat high relative to the content’s accessibility — Ortega writes with warmth and pace, and the story moves quickly despite the reading formula score. The characters are twelve years old, which naturally pulls interest toward fifth grade and above even though the prose is accessible to strong third- and fourth-grade readers. For official scores, visit Lexile.com or AR BookFinder.
What Age Is Ghost Squad Appropriate For?
Ages 8–12, grades 4–6. The book is genuinely spooky — it is a Halloween ghost story, and some imagery is horror-adjacent. One scene involves a bloody wound. Children who are sensitive to scary content or supernatural imagery should be prepared for a book that takes its haunting seriously rather than playing it entirely for laughs. The warmth and humor are real counterweights, but the spooky elements are not decorative.
What Is Ghost Squad About?
Lucely Luna’s father Simon runs ghost tours of St. Augustine, Florida — one of the oldest and most historically layered cities in America. Their old Victorian house has a magical tree in the yard, and in that tree live Lucely’s ancestors: generations of her Dominican family who appear as firefly ghosts, flickering warmly, keeping the family connected to its history. Lucely and her best friend Syd, whose grandmother Babette is a genuine witch, have always known about this world. They have been warned not to meddle in it.
They meddle. Specifically, they cast a spell to try to save the house — the Luna family’s finances are precarious, and the magical tree is being threatened. The spell goes badly wrong and releases malevolent spirits across St. Augustine, including a truly dangerous antagonist, while weakening Lucely’s firefly ancestors. Now she and Syd must enlist Babette, navigate St. Augustine’s haunted graveyards, work with the firefly ancestors themselves, and find a way to reverse what they’ve done before the town is destroyed and Lucely’s family history is lost forever.
Ghost Squad Themes and Lessons
The book’s most distinctive quality is the warmth of its ancestor tradition. The firefly ghosts are not threatening — they are beloved, specific, full of personality, and fully present in Lucely’s daily life. The relationship between the living and the dead in the Luna family is not supernatural horror but something closer to how many cultures actually understand the continuity between generations: the dead don’t entirely leave; they stay near, they have opinions, and they love you. This is rooted in real Dominican and broader Latinx cultural practice, and it gives the book a warmth that distinguishes it from most ghost-story fiction in the age range.
The parallel with the Pixar film Coco is apt and worth discussing: both are about a child’s relationship with their ancestors, both center on a multigenerational family’s traditions and their importance, and both use the presence of the dead as a way of exploring what families pass down across generations. Children who loved Coco will find immediately familiar emotional territory here.
Discussion questions: How is the way Lucely’s family thinks about their ancestors different from how most ghost stories treat the dead? What does it mean to you that the ancestors appear as fireflies? Why is the magical tree so important — what does it represent? What would you want to ask your own ancestors if you could?
Books Similar to Ghost Squad
About Claribel A. Ortega
Claribel A. Ortega is a Dominican American author and former journalist based in New York. Ghost Squad was her middle-grade debut; she has since written the Witchlings series and the graphic novel Frizzy (illustrated by Rose Bousamra), which won both a Pura Belpré Award and an Eisner Award — the most prestigious awards in their respective fields of children’s literature and comics. She has said that Ghost Squad grew from her own Dominican heritage and specifically from the cultural traditions around ancestors and the continuing presence of the dead in family life that she grew up with. She is also the co-host of the podcast Bad Author Book Club and coaches authors on navigating publishing. A screen adaptation of Ghost Squad is in development.
Ghost Squad: Frequently Asked Questions
What reading level is Ghost Squad?
Lexile 810L, ATOS 5.5. Our assessment: grades 4–6, ages 8–12. The 810L is somewhat high relative to accessibility — the story moves quickly and warmly despite the formula score. For official scores, visit Lexile.com or AR BookFinder.
What is Ghost Squad about?
Lucely Luna’s Dominican ancestors live as firefly ghosts in the tree beside her house in St. Augustine. When she and her best friend Syd accidentally cast a spell that releases malevolent spirits across town, they must team up with Syd’s witch grandmother Babette and the firefly ancestors themselves to reverse the curse before the town and Lucely’s family history are lost.
Is Ghost Squad scary?
Genuinely spooky — it is a Halloween ghost story that takes its haunting seriously. Some imagery is horror-adjacent and one scene involves a bloody wound. The warmth and humor are real counterweights, but the scary elements are not purely comic. Children who are sensitive to supernatural or horror-adjacent content should be prepared accordingly. Most readers ages 8 and up handle it comfortably.
How is Ghost Squad similar to Coco?
Both center on a protagonist’s relationship with their ancestors, both come from Latin American cultural traditions about the continuity between living and dead generations, and both use the presence of the dead as a way to explore what families pass down across generations. The comparison is apt and explicitly made by the publisher. Children who loved Coco will find immediately familiar emotional territory.
Is there a Ghost Squad sequel?
As of 2026, no direct sequel has been published, though Ortega has written other books including the Witchlings series. A screen adaptation of Ghost Squad is in development.
