Recent review of Ghost of Johanna that a reader shared with me. Thank you, Glory Smith!

Hello Susan K. Earl,
I wanted to reach out to you after reading Ghost of Johanna, a story that lingers quietly and powerfully long after the final page.
What struck me most is how gently you approach an unbearably heavy reality. Angelina’s fear, confusion, and longing are rendered with deep empathy, never sensationalized. The abandonment is not treated as a plot device but as a lived wound, one that shapes every choice the sisters must make. You allow young readers and adults to feel the weight of that moment without overwhelming them.
Johanna herself is beautifully ambiguous. Apparition, spirit, angel, or survival instinct given voice, she functions as all of these at once. That uncertainty is one of the book’s great strengths. Rather than explaining hope, you embody it. Johanna becomes the presence that trauma sometimes needs in order to be endured, especially by children who cannot yet articulate their fear.
The journey from El Salvador to Texas is portrayed with restraint and respect. You never lose sight of the human scale: small bodies, limited strength, impossible odds. And yet the book never collapses into despair. Its power lies in its quiet insistence that compassion, imagination, and love can coexist with danger.
I also appreciate the bilingual and cross-cultural reach of the work. Making this story available in Spanish as well as English expands not only its audience, but its moral relevance. This is a book that meets children where they are, linguistically and emotionally.
Ghost of Johanna is not simply a story about migration or loss, it is about the forms hope takes when adults are absent and the world feels unsafe. That is no small achievement.
Thank you for writing with such care, courage, and heart.
Warm regards,
glory smith