The Mystery of Growing Up

New York Times-bestselling author Jasmine Warga tackles a new genre with her signature blend of empathy for her readers, agency for her characters, and the belief that art is the great connector.

- MICHAEL WOODSON

Childhood is a mystery. One moment our imaginations know no limits, and the next, that burning sense of wonder begins to fade. New York Timesbestselling author Jasmine Warga's new book explores that in-between stage of adolescence, where being oneself is sometimes the hardest, most mysterious quality of life.

In A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall, we follow Rami who, while at the museum where his mother works, believes he sees a ghost roaming Cherry Hall-the same hall in the museum where a painting was recently stolen-and the ghost herself looks alarmingly like the figure in the missing painting. Rami's mother is an unfair suspect in the case of the missing art, so with the help of his classmate Veda (as well as a turtle named Agatha), Rami ventures to put the clues together to find the missing art, to identify the ghostly girl, and figure out who he is and who he may be becoming along the way.

I spoke with Warga about tackling the mystery genre, how to weave together reality with the imaginary, and more.

Something I really loved about this book was the feeling that not just anything could happen, but also that anything was possible. This is a mystery story, but there are also otherworldly elements. How did you build that sense of wonder in a book like this?