The Ghost of Thomas Kempe
First edition | |
| Author | Penelope Lively |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Anthony Maitland |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's fantasy novel, supernatural fiction |
| Publisher | Heinemann (UK) E. P. Dutton (US) |
Publication date | 26 March 1973 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (hardcover & paperback) |
| Pages | 156 pp (first edition) |
| ISBN | 0-434-94894-2 (US) |
| OCLC | 673929 |
| LC Class | PZ7.L7397 Gh |
The Ghost of Thomas Kempe is a low fantasy novel for children by Penelope Lively, first published by Heinemann in 1973 with illustrations by Anthony Maitland. Set in present-day Oxfordshire, it features a boy and his modern family who are new in their English village, and seem beset by a poltergeist. Soon the boy makes acquaintance with the eponymous Thomas Kempe, ghost of a 17th-century resident sorcerer who intends to stay.
Lively won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject.