Harper is excited about her final year of primary school, but nothing is working out the way she hoped. Her nurse parents travel to Yemen for work and she has to stay with a grandma she barely knows. Her school friends have been given time-consuming leadership roles and even befriend the class bully. Finally, the pandemic is all over the news and changing their lives in radical ways.

Harper finds an old badge for cadets and notices that strange things seem to happen when she has it. One day, she sees a ghost in the school library and comes to realise that the badge and the ghost are somehow connected. The ghost is a boy in uniform and he needs her help.

This is a sweet, gentle story about friendship, family and about making sense of your world when everything is changing. It’s also about discovering the past and noticing its connection to your present. Highly recommended for ages 10+.

Angela Crocombe is a senior children’s book buyer at Readings.