A gripping chapter book for early readers She sees ghosts Isabel Wixon is weird. Not only does she see dead things, but her list of friends consists of a talkative ventriloquist's dummy and the gentlemanly spider that lives in her hair. Her best friend is a gentleman spider Real friends? Too hard. Inventing friends is much easier. An invention goes horribly wrong Inventing the Boatman-a terrible monster that lures kids into a strange sleeping sickness and never lets them go-probably wasn't one of her better ideas though.