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Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library | Juvenile Fiction Book Hardback | 120791001330602 | J ALP | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library | Juvenile Fiction Book Hardback | 120791001330610 | J ALP | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
"The ghost of a young soldier from the Civil War haunts a troubled teen."
""I sat up. The jagged trenches were only soft grassy depressions in the sunny battlefield park. I felt tears burn my eyes, the relief was so strong, and then the misery of losing the ghost hit me.""
Alexander has the ability to see ghosts. But it's been several years since his last encounter. When he reluctantly joins his father on a long trip away from home, a surprise awaits him. In the unfamiliar territory of North Carolina, Alexander is confronted by the ghost of a young soldier who lost his life in the Civil War. As an unusual friendship develops between the two, Alexander is drawn into a new reality where he comes face to face with the haunting past of his soldier friend. But can Alexander help this troubled ghost, and can he, finally, come to terms with his own disturbing past? With deftness and insight, Elaine Marie Alphin tells a gripping story that weaves the supernatural with the historical. Ghost story fans and Civil War buffs alike are in for a real treat.
"Ghost Soldier" is a nominee for the 2002 Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-7-Alexander Raskin is a special boy, which is why he sometimes sees ghosts from events long past. At least, that's what his free-spirited mother told him, before she left three years earlier to follow her inner drummer. Alexander hasn't seen ghosts for a long time, nor felt special, either. Least of all when he and his dad drive from Indiana to North Carolina for a visit with his father's girlfriend, Paige Hambrick, and her two children. Alexander is upset to learn that these strangers may become his stepfamily, and it's cold comfort that the oldest Hambrick kid seems equally unenthusiastic about the idea. By the time the group visits a Civil War battle site, Alexander's emotions are in turmoil, his supernatural ability suddenly reappears, and he falls into a "window through time." As if he didn't have troubles enough, he finds himself constantly accompanied by the ghost of a Confederate soldier who needs help finding out what became of his family after the war if he is ever to rest in peace. Reluctantly, Alexander agrees, and with unexpected help from the Hambricks, embarks on an adventure seeking answers to mysteries more than 100 years old. The story is an entertaining blend of paranormal, historical, and family themes, with a well-crafted plot that ties up all loose ends in a satisfying conclusion.-Starr E. Smith, Fairfax County Public Library, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Alexander reluctantly goes with his father to visit DadÆs girlfriend in North Carolina. During a Civil War reenactment, Alexander meets the ghost of a young Confederate soldier killed in battle. Richeson asks Alexander to help find out what happened to his family after the war. Alexander does museum research, and even travels back in time, as he solves the mystery and adjusts to his new family situation in this engaging novel. From HORN BOOK Fall 2002, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
The ghost of a young Confederate soldier plays therapist to an angry 21st-century teen. It's been three years since his mother walked out on him and his father, but 13-year-old Alexander still hopes for her return-and blames his father bitterly for her departure. So when his father packs the two of them up for a weeklong vacation in North Carolina to visit an attractive widow he met at a conference, Alexander moves into high resentment gear, especially when he meets her dinosaur-loving son and equally resentful older daughter. The only thing that distracts him from his anger is the ghost he meets while touring a Civil War battlefield. The long-dead Rich's obsession concerns his sister: did she make it to safety before General Sherman's troops overran the family farm? Through Rich, Alexander learns a bit about history (this history dwells on the undeniable valor of the Southern troops and the brutality of their Northern opponents, but skims very lightly over the slavery issue) and a little more about family dynamics: "Your mother left for her own reasons, not because of you." While it's a little unclear how this dead 19th-century teenager could have such a firm grasp of soothing 21st-century bromides, it is certain that over the course of their search for evidence of Rich's sister's survival, Alexander learns to accept his mother's departure and his father's desire to move on. Alphin (Counterfeit Son, 2000, etc.) handles the moments when Alexander moves into the ghostly world with flair and atmosphere, but the outcomes of both Rich's quest and Alexander's inward journey are entirely predictable. A serviceable but not essential offering. (Fiction. 10-14)
Booklist Review
Gr. 5-7. In this ghost story with a historical bent, Alex Raskin connects with a young Civil War ghost who wants to find out what happened to the family he was unable to protect. Alex, whose ability to see and hear spirits is something his computer-programmer father would never understand, is inexorably drawn by the ghost of Richeson Francis Chamblee into a search of Chamblee's family, whose homestead was in the path of Sherman's march. The ghost story is intertwined with Alex's personal problems. He still yearns for the mother who left him and is resisting the idea that his father plans to remarry. Alphin's plot provides an interesting lesson on how historical research occurs, but it is Alex's gradual acceptance of his father's plans and the interesting resolution of the Chamblee mystery that will most please readers. --Denise Wilms