SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
R. J. Palacio is a best-selling children's author. She wrote the popular young adult novel "Wonder." Now she's out with a new picture book called "The Haunted Playground." It's about what ghosts get up to when they're off the clock. NPR's Chloee Weiner met up with the author at the park that inspired the story to find out whether it's really haunted.
CHLOEE WEINER, BYLINE: R. J. Palacio says she isn't sure whether there are ghosts in her neighborhood, but if there were, they'd be right here at J.J. Byrne Playground in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The author lives across the street, and a few years ago, she was walking her dog in the surrounding park the morning after Halloween.
R J PALACIO: At 6 or 7 in the morning, there's no one out. I mean, even the little kids, even the moms with their strollers were not out.
WEINER: Park Slope is famous for its Halloween parade, which ends in this park every year.
PALACIO: There was all these remnants and the vestiges of old costumes discarded on the floor and little lanterns. And it looked like it's a place where, like, a lot of ghosts would have gathered and had a crazy party the night before.
WEINER: It got the author's wheels turning.
PALACIO: Basically, the first line of the book just kind of popped into my head. At midnight every Hallows' Eve, the ghosts come out to play. They leave the houses that they haunt, the graveyards where they lay.
WEINER: Palacio teamed up with Brett Helquist for "The Haunted Playground." He illustrated "A Series Of Unfortunate Events." This book is about a crew of ghosts that gathers at midnight every Halloween. They take a break from their haunting duties once trick or treating is over. It's a wholesome phantom-only party until a couple of kids show up, a brother and sister looking to play. And this upsets the king of ghosts, Rex Magnificus.
PALACIO: And he's a bit of a windbag. He's very full of himself, but he - you know, this is his thing. He wants a chance for his ghosts to be able to kind of relax and take a night off of scaring people and their haunting.
WEINER: Rex tries to scare the siblings away, but they're unfazed.
PALACIO: Rex Magnificus is very taken aback by this. He does not want the children to stay. But the kids are determined. And in fact, the ghosts don't seem to mind. And the kids and the ghosts end up playing together.
WEINER: They play all night. Even Rex joins in. But then it's time for the ghosts to go home.
PALACIO: And then the book takes kind of a tender turn, if anything, because they have to say goodbye.
WEINER: The ghosts return to their spooky responsibilities, but the kids promise to return, same time, same place next year. Palacio has become known for this gentle quality in her stories. Her most famous book, "Wonder," is about a 10-year-old boy named Auggie who was born with a genetic facial condition. The story follows his transition from homeschooling to prep school. There, he faces some bullying, but also kindness from some of his classmates.
PALACIO: People have joked with me, people that I don't know have talked about how my books always seem to make them cry, but in a good way. Though what I've realized, it's not the moments, for instance, in "Wonder" and other books where kids have been unkind to one another. It's the moments when people are especially kind to one another or nice or experience that moment of unexpected tenderness.
WEINER: "The Haunted Playground" isn't Palacio's first book about ghosts. Her YA novel "Pony" features a friendly ghost that only one character can see.
PALACIO: I love ghosts. I've always been fascinated by ghosts, at least by the - maybe not the old-fashioned idea of ghosts, but by the idea that we're surrounded by forces or things unseen.
WEINER: With "The Haunted Playground," Palacio wanted to write something scary for her young readers, but not too scary.
PALACIO: To have kids experience a place of spookiness where they also had a sense that they would be safe, you know, that it would be scary but with a wink. I mean, ultimately, you know, ghosts just want to have fun. You know, that's it. And why not?
WEINER: Chloee Weiner, NPR News, New York. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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