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Greenglass House
Kate Milford
Children Ages 8-12
Milo Pine was looking forward to a quiet Christmas break with his parents after a full year of hustle and bustle at the family-run hotel. However, one by one, the hotel receives mysterious guests who all seem to be searching for something in the house. Amidst a host of stolen items and guests creeping around at night, Milo teams up with one of the guests, a young girl named Meddy, to solve the mystery of why Greenglass House is full of cryptic guests.
Note for Parents: Please be aware that this book contains several elements that some parents may wish to avoid. Toward the beginning of the book, one character takes God’s name in vain. Then, a number of hotel guests are smugglers, yet their profession is never questioned. (SPOILER ALERT) In the final chapters, the reader learns that Meddy is the ghost of a girl who once lived in the house. Adoptive parents will also want to know that the main character consistently wrestles with his desire to know more about his birth parents and his family history. We have chosen to recommend this book for two reasons. First, overall, this book is clean and engaging, and it upholds the values of family and kindness toward others. Second, we believe it is more valuable to help our children think critically and biblically through these topics that do not align with a biblical worldview than to avoid them altogether.
Questions Just for Fun
If you lived at Greenglass House, which guest would you most enjoy having stay at the hotel? Why?
Which parts of the book surprised you the most?
Questions to Think Critically and Biblically
As Milo pretends to be Negret the blackjack, he finds himself thinking more strategically and more confidently. How do the thoughts we think about ourselves actually affect what we believe about ourselves and how we act?
Discussion Guide - Discuss how true thoughts we think about ourselves should lead us to live in a way that aligns with God’s design for us, while untrue thoughts will lead us away from God’s design. Share about a time in your life when your thoughts about yourself impacted how you acted. Read Philippians 4:8 and discuss how Scripture commands us to focus our thoughts on what is true and good.
Many of the guests at Greenglass House are smugglers. Yet, as the book progresses, we come to know them and appreciate them. Does appreciating others and seeing good qualities about them mean that all of their actions are right? How do you know?
Discussion Guide - Talk about how we can appreciate and value others even while recognizing that some of their actions are wrong. Then, discuss how right and wrong are objective truths, not feelings that change from person to person. We can appreciate people like Georgie, Clem, Fenster, and Doc Holystone while also recognizing that their smuggling is wrong and deserving of punishment.
Even though most guests at Greeglass House initially treat others with impatience and disrespect, they begin to soften and care for others throughout the book. What is it that causes such a shift in the characters?
Discussion Guide - Discuss how Milo’s kindness helps the others begin to soften. As he seeks to help the guests find their stolen items and then intentionally gives them meaningful gifts, the guests begin to look outside of themselves and care for others. Read Matthew 7:12 and discuss how Jesus calls us to treat others with kindness.
At the end of the book, we learn that Meddy is really the ghost of Addie Witcher. How does the understanding of those who have died becoming ghosts differ from what the biblical worldview teaches about death?
Discussion Guide - Read Hebrews 9:27-28 and discuss how the Bible teaches that humans die and then face judgment. Read Luke 24:36-43 and discuss how Jesus’s resurrection shows us that our final state will not be one of disembodied “ghosts” but one of resurrected perfected bodies.
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