School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-3-This story defies expectations of what an early chapter book can be. When the normally quiet Ivy tells her classmates that there's a ghost in the second-grade bathroom, reactions vary from fascination to fear. When a girl refuses to use the bathroom, though, Ms. Aruba-Tate's gentle reprimand sends Ivy reeling, and she and her friend Bean decide to make the problem go away by performing an exorcism. Barrows keeps the language simple and clear without sacrificing wit and subtlety. While Ivy steadfastly insists that the ghost is real, sensitive readers will see her diversionary tactic for what it is. (She doesn't want anyone to know she can't do a cartwheel.) The author even makes the occasional vocabulary lesson palatable ("Cody had lit two garbage cans on fire and wasn't allowed to come back to school anymore. He was expelled"). The slightly wider than normal format with large print, lots of white space, fun detailing, and Blackall's expressive illustrations make an attractive package that will be welcome in most collections.-Adrienne Furness, Webster Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
The second graders who first met in Ivy and Bean (which PW's starred review called "just right for kids moving on from beginning readers") must try to eradicate a ghost from the girls' bathroom at school in Ivy and Bean and the Ghost that Had to Go. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
