Halloween is just around the corner, so let’s talk ghost stories!

There are so many coincidences between “The Haunting of Henry Davis” and “Last Meeting of the Gorilla Club,” it’s almost eerie. Both books were written by Seattle authors, both feature a new boy who enters fifth grade and has trouble getting accepted by his new classmates and both boys see ghosts.

Despite all those commonalities, each story has its distinct flavor.

Author and middle school teacher Kathryn Siebel wrote “The Haunting of Henry Davis.” This story is told from the point of view of Barbara Anne, a highly inquisitive and loquacious classmate, who is curious about Henry Davis, the new kid in class, even though “Henry didn’t make a great first impression.”

A small fellow, he always looks pale and exhausted, and at recess, instead of playing with the other kids, he sits alone and sketches secretively in a notebook.

Barbara Anne, of course, is going to get to the bottom of this. But when she finds out he’s drawing images of the ghost who’s been haunting him since he moved to town, it’s just the beginning.

Though Henry is worn out by all of this, Barbara Anne convinces him they should delve into what the ghost wants so it can find peace and leave Henry alone.

Their research takes them to documents concerning the World War I era and the scourge of the Spanish Flu epidemic — Siebel craftily inserts some history education into the tale.

But the underlying message of this story is the value of establishing friendships with people who aren’t just like you.

And as the narrator, outspoken Barbara Anne is a kick.

Without the levity that kind of character provides, the other book, “Last Meeting of the Gorilla Club,” by Sara Nickerson, is more serious in tone.

Josh Duncan has always been consumed with his imaginary friends and imaginary big brother. It might have been cute when he was little, but now he’s 11, and — despite counseling — has developed no skill at making friends in the real world.

Now he and his mother have moved to a new town to give Josh a fresh start in a new school. And, it turns out, Mom has to contend with some anxiety issues of her own.

But big brother reappears here almost immediately, as does a new imaginary character — a girl with a sparkly rainbow shirt. The thing is, the girl seems to be interacting with another kid in Josh’s class, too.

Then, a classroom experiment in perception cracks open an opportunity and helps Josh understand that “The world is full of invisibles.”

This is not a tidily told tale — life is too complicated for that — but Nickerson loose-weaves a poignant and involving story of mental health, memories, perception and unresolved loss. The key to solace, she suggests, is friendship.

The Bookmonger is Barbara Lloyd McMichael, who writes this weekly column focusing on the books, authors and publishers of the Pacific Northwest. Contact her at bkmonger@nwlink.com

“The Haunting of Henry Davis” By Kathryn Siebel

Knopf – 234 pp – $16.99

“Last Meeting of the Gorilla Club” By Sara Nickerson

Dutton Children’s Books – 300 pp – $17.99