A guide for grown-ups.
The Computer Ghost is for readers ages 8 to 13 — and for ages 5 to 7 when a grown-up reads it aloud at bedtime. It is a small, quiet book — but it does ask some larger questions. About what it means to be remembered. About kindness, online and otherwise. About the difference between being curious and being intrusive. This page is here to help you read it together.
Discussion questions
Use these as conversation prompts at the dinner table, in the classroom, or at bedtime. There are no wrong answers; the questions are quiet on purpose.
- Why do you think Rozina chose Liza's tablet, and not someone else's?
- If you could ask one of the four ghosts a single question, who and what would it be?
- What is the difference between being curious about a person and being kind to them?
- Phoenix is not a villain. Do you think Phoenix did something wrong? Why or why not?
- The book says some places "remember" the people who lived in them. What do you think that means?
- Have you ever felt that someone you didn't know was paying attention to you online? What did you do?
Classroom activities
Write a fifth ghost
Choose a real person from your own town's history. Write half a page in which they appear inside a piece of modern technology and meet a child for the first time.
Map your own Vasad
Pick an old building in your community. On a map, mark three quiet places near it. Write one sentence about who might be remembering each place.
Draw the princess
The book describes Rozina but does not show her. Draw the portrait Liza saw on the tablet. Pay attention to her eyes.
The kind reply
Imagine an unknown person sends you a message online. Write two replies — one curious, one kind. Which one would Liza send? Which one would Phoenix?
Letter to a ghost
Write a short letter to one of the four ghosts. Tell them one true thing about your own life that you would like them to know.
Visit a ruin
If you can, visit an old building near you that no one uses any more. Stand inside it for two minutes without speaking. Write down what you noticed.
Historical notes by chapter
Each note is a few sentences. They are kind for grown-ups to read first, before reading the chapter aloud, so that questions about "is this real?" can be answered gently.
- Chapter 1 — The game that wasn't there
- [PLACEHOLDER — short note on the real Phoenix incident, kept light.]
- Chapter 2 — Rozina
- [PLACEHOLDER — historical note on Rozina, two sentences.]
- Chapter 3 — The corridor
- [PLACEHOLDER — historical note on Vasad Castle.]
- Chapter 4 — Ilona
- [PLACEHOLDER — historical note on Ilona.]
- Chapter 5 — A letter, unfinished
- [PLACEHOLDER — historical note on István.]
- Chapter 6 — The thousand-year wall
- [PLACEHOLDER — note on the Csévharaszt church ruin.]
- Chapter 7 — Zsuzsanna
- [PLACEHOLDER — historical note on Zsuzsanna.]
- Chapter 8 — Phoenix
- [PLACEHOLDER — a note on online safety, kindness, and how to talk with a child about strangers in their games.]
A note on online safety
The book treats Phoenix as a person, not a monster — because that is who Phoenix was. But not every voice that finds a child online is kind, and the novel is not a substitute for that conversation.
If you would like guidance on how to talk with your child about strangers, games, and the gentle skill of saying "no, thank you" online, the publisher has put together a short companion sheet.