Purchase to Support Our Program

“After her estranged grandfather dies, an 11-year-old girl learns that she can not only see ghosts, but also communicate with them…Teddy, Lila, and her younger brother, Caleb, must solve the murder, help the good ghosts resolve their unfinished business so they can cross over, and stop the malevolent spirits who stand in their way…Hauntingly good and sure to possess any horror aficionado.”

Kirkus Reviews

The Last Resort (The Last Resort #1)

Written by Erin Entrada Kelly
Illustrated by Naomi Franquiz
Published by Scholastic Press

Twelve-year-old Lila has two goals for the summer:

1. Win back the friends who ditched her for being “too dramatic”

2. Stop being so dramatic

But then Lila’s estranged Grandpa Clem dies, throwing a wrench in her plans. Now she’ll have to spend the summer in Ohio while her parents decide what to do with Grandpa Clem’s creepy Victorian Inn. It’s supremely unfair. How can she show off the “new and improved” Lila from so far away?

Even worse, strange things keep happening. En route to Ohio, the family gets into a scary car accident. No one’s hurt, but the remainder of the trip is… odd. At every rest stop, Lila sees people in weird old-fashioned clothes. People no one else can see or hear…

Lila convinces herself it’s just her overactive imagination until the day of the funeral when she spots an old man sitting in her grandfather’s favorite chair. She does a double take — it’s him, Grandpa Clem. He tells Lila that he didn’t die of a heart attack: he was murdered. Possibly by someone who wants to control the inn. Because it’s not a normal bed & breakfast: it’s a portal between the land of the living and the realm of the dead. A hotel for ghosts passing onto the afterlife.

With the help of her skeptical brother, Caleb, and their new ghost-obsessed neighbor, Teddy, Lila — the girl who’s vowed to be less dramatic — must uncover her grandfather’s killer AND stop the evil spirits desperate to make their way back into the human world.

Don’t miss the rest of the series! Explore:

Primary ISBN: 9781546132431
Publication Date: September 2025
Available As: Hardcover, Audiobook, eBook
Middle Grade, Age 08 or older

Community Represented: ,

Themes: , , , , , , , , ,

Setting: United States (Arizona, Ohio)

Character's Place in the Immigration Journey: Unknown Arrival

Book Creator(s) Connection to the Community Represented: Own Voices/Lived Experience

Click here for details about how we define our titles.

Engagement Projects & Resources:

Share your favorite resources for this book with info@imyourneighborbooks.org.

Engagement Materials:

Book Guide – The Last Resort

Erin Entrada Kelly Introduces The Last Resort

Source: Scholastic