Get your Signed copy today! Amazon Jodi Auborn Books Create Space Store Category:  Children Publisher: Create Space ISBN-10:  1499321236 Type: Fiction Pages: 198 Copyright: December 1, 2014 ISBN-13: 9781499321234 When vacationing at a mysterious Maine lighthouse, ten-year-old Dylan befriends a ghostly lighthouse keeper who must protect Dylan from danger after he learns a very big secret. Ten-year-old Dylan is excited when his father inherits an old lighthouse and cottage in Maine. Dylan and his family get to live there all summer! He goes sailing on the bay, explores the small town down the road, and searches for a legendary pirate treasure that was said to be buried nearby. After mysterious things start happening at the cottage, Dylan meets Matthias, a gruff lighthouse keeper who had died in a storm one hundred years before. A ghost! Dylan is startled to find Matthias living in his bedroom, but he is glad when they become friends. It’s the best summer ever! Things change when they learn that the lighthouse is threatened by a greedy treasure hunter who also knows about the pirate legend. He will do whatever it takes to find the treasure…even kidnapping! As Dylan and Matthias team up to protect their home, they begin an adventure that changes Dylan’s life forever.         Excerpt CHAPTER 1. SALVATION POINT June 2013 Welcome to Salvation Point, Maine, population 550. “We’re finally here!” I cried as we passed the sign heading into town. We were a long way from our apartment in New York City, but I was glad that we made it here at last. Back in May – just before my birthday - my dad found out that he had inherited a house from his Uncle Zack. But it wasn’t just any house. Uncle Zack was a hermit who had lived in an old lighthouse keeper’s house, right next to the ocean. He had owned a real lighthouse…and we were going to live there all summer! As we drove into town, I thought about the day when my sister and I got home from school, and Dad told us that we had a new place to live… “I remember visiting Uncle Zack at the cottage when I was growing up,” Dad had told us. “The cottage is small, and very old, but it has three bedrooms. Two of them are upstairs in the attic.” “Dad?” I asked. “Maybe you and Mom can quit your jobs and become lighthouse keepers, and we could move there for good!” “We don’t have to take care of the lighthouse,” Dad said. “Even though it’s on our property, it’s maintained by the Coast Guard. And it’s all been automated. That means that it has modern equipment, and the light will come on by itself. A person from the Coast Guard just has to come and check it sometimes, to make sure that it’s working right.” “Thank goodness for that,” my sister, Alondra, grumbled. “Now, tell me: how long are we going to be stuck there?” Alondra was fifteen, and she was the most boring person I knew. All she liked to do was hang out in stores with her friends, and try on shoes and clothes. We had nothing in common. And we didn’t get along very well, either. Alondra hated the whole idea of moving. Mom was nervous about leaving the city. But me – I couldn’t wait to see the little town where Dad had grown up. He gave me a tourist guidebook so I could learn about Maine, but Dad wasn’t a tourist. He had lived in Salvation Point his whole life, and worked at a shop where they repaired and built wooden boats. In the summer, he had been a sailing instructor at a camp for kids. Dad loved boats and the ocean, but when he married Mom, she had refused to leave the big city. Dad moved there and became an architect, but he always talked about moving back to Salvation Point someday. Dad bought a car the week before we left. “There are no taxis or subways where we’re going,” he had said, smiling. The day after fourth grade let out for the summer, we packed up the car and piled in for our long trip north to Maine. Alondra listened to her music and ignored Dad, who had spent the whole trip telling stories about his life growing up here. After we passed the Salvation Point sign, I leaned forward and tapped Mom’s shoulder. “Hey, Mom. Now that we’re moving here, can we get a dog? I want a Newfoundland.” Mom frowned. “Dylan, we’ve already been through this. We’ll only be here for the summer, and you know that we can’t have pets at our apartment. Now, sit down and put your seatbelt back on. And be careful of my canvasses.” I sighed. I knew she’d say that. I stared out the window and moved my feet away from the pile of Mom’s painting canvasses. She had stacked them behind Dad’s seat before we left that morning. My mom was an artist. I guess she was sort of famous. Her paintings were for sale at the fanciest art galleries all over the city, and only rich people could afford to buy them. But they did, and Mom became more famous every year. “I must admit that this is a pretty town, Roger,” Mom was telling Dad as we passed some big old houses. Most had flower gardens in the front yard, and shady porches with American flags that snapped in the breeze. Some kids my age rode their bikes down the sidewalk, goofing off and calling to each other. Mom smiled at them. “I hope that you’ll make an effort to make some friends this summer, Dylan,” she said. “You’re so quiet and introverted, like your father. It’s not healthy.” Dad frowned at her. “Leave the boy alone, Rorianne. He’s fine the way he is.” “Don’t you get stern with me, Roger,” Mom snapped. “You know that I’m only trying to help him.” I put my head down and smiled as Mom sulked. She was always telling Dad that she worried about me, or that I was “exasperating” her. She seemed to like that word: “exasperating.” I guess I made her feel that way a lot. But I could always depend on Dad to keep Mom from nagging me too much. Dad was usually on my side. At the edge of town, we went by a pizza parlor across the road from an old graveyard. Alondra shivered. “A cemetery? That’s not what I want to look at while I’m eating pizza.” “That pizza place is called Pies on the Point. I can’t believe that it’s still here!” Dad said. He sounded as excited as a kid. “I hope the same family runs it. They made the best pizza that you’ll ever eat.” “Then can we get some? I’m hungry!” I whined. “Some other time; we’ll be at the cottage in five minutes. Now, look over there, Dylan; that’s the harbor. You and I are going to spend a lot of time there this summer.” Dad slowed down so I could get a good look at the harbor. All kinds of boats lined both sides of a long wooden dock, where two seagulls were fighting over a dead fish. Colorful buoys hung from some old gray buildings by the dock, and big powerboats floated at their moorings further out in the water. They weren’t like the fancy yachts at the marina back home. These were long and low, with skinny smokestacks and covered wheelhouses with windows on three sides. They looked like they were made for work. “What kind of boats are those?” I asked, pointing out the window. “Those are lobster boats,” Dad said. “I used to work on one when I was in high school…” “Not another story!” Alondra groaned, as Dad started talking about his time working on the boat. I looked behind us at Thunder, the little sailboat that Dad was towing. Thunder was mine. Dad had to hire a truck to haul his sailboat here, since it’s bigger. His was docked at the harbor already. After we passed the harbor, Dad turned onto a dirt road that ran along the edge of the bay. The breeze rustled the bushes alongside the road. They were covered with big pink flowers that Dad said were wild roses. The other side of the road was all woods - nothing but dark green woods without any more houses in sight. The sun was starting to set behind the trees, casting dark shadows across the road and leaving a pale light glowing over the water. “Look at all those trees!” I said, pointing at the woods. “They look like Christmas trees. Is that a big park?” “Close. That’s a nature preserve. And those aren’t Christmas trees; they’re spruces and firs. There are hiking trails all through those woods,” Dad said. “And I bet there’s bears, too,” Alondra muttered. Dad shook his head. “Maybe not bears, but I’m sure there are coyotes…and a lot of deer and raccoons. Maybe even some moose. That side of the point is just woods, until you reach the lighthouse.” We passed a bald-headed man in a long, flapping coat, who prowled at the edge of the trees as if he didn’t want anybody to catch him. He carried a big fancy-looking metal detector, and a long rolled-up paper under his arm. He looked up and stared as we went by, scratching the little beard on his chin. Dad waved, but the man just spit on the ground and watched as we continued down the road. “Well, he doesn’t look very nice, does he?” Mom said. “I don’t like the way that he’s just watching us.” She shuddered and looked back at the town across the bay, hidden in the dark trees. “Roger, this place is so remote.” “Well, that’s the really great thing!” Dad said with a smile. “Even though we have no close neighbors, we’re only a mile from town. And tourists always stop here to take pictures of the lighthouse. We’ll get plenty of company.” “Our nearest neighbor is a mile away? Roger, you never told me that!” Dad just looked at her as he turned off the air conditioning and rolled down the windows. The wind smelled nice, like mud and wet rocks and warm, salty air. I took a deep breath. “Smell that?” Dad said, smiling again. “That’s the smell of low tide. We’re home.” Up ahead, I spotted a house with a red roof. It looked like nobody had painted the house in a long time, but I didn’t care about that. I was more interested in the lighthouse in the backyard. A person was walking around by the railing at the top. I couldn’t wait to climb up there, too! We left the woods behind us as Dad drove into a wide-open field surrounded by the ocean. “Well, here it is,” he said, parking in front of the shabby-looking old house. “The Salvation Point Light Station.”

Excellent Review from Readersfavorite.com
Reviewed by Melinda Hills for Readers' Favorite:

Dylan Flint is excited about spending the summer at the lighthouse cottage his family just inherited from Uncle Zack, located on the coast of Maine. With his own sailboat and a keen interest in the history of the area, Dylan is the perfect person to appreciate everything the place has to offer – even its own resident ghost!

In Matthias: The Ghost of Salvation Point by Jodi L. Auborn, Matthias is a former lighthouse keeper who still performs his duties. He becomes Dylan’s best friend and helps him through a number of issues that come up, like keeping away from some very bad men convinced that the lighthouse hides a pirate’s treasure. Unfortunately, Dylan’s mom does not believe in ghosts and thinks Dylan needs to get away from the island; but his dad understands that something special is going on. Unlike his sister Alondra, who can’t wait to get out of Salvation Point, Dylan knows that this is exactly where he belongs.

Along with the family inheriting the house, Dylan has inherited his uncle’s love of the sea, the lighthouse and everything nature - and the supernatural – has to offer.

Maine’s small town charm as well as the beauty and ruggedness of the coast are clearly and lovingly depicted in Matthias: The Ghost of Salvation Point by Jodi L. Auborn. In this unique story of friendship between a ghost and a young boy, the history of lighthouses and the lure of pirate treasure are brought to life as a family struggles with the choice of returning to a simpler time or enjoying the benefits of life in the big city. Well written and quite enjoyable, children of all ages can learn something about a period of American life as well as what’s in their own hearts as they read Dylan’s story.

https://readersfavorite.com/book-review/matthias




Another excellent review from Feathered Quill Book Reviews
Matthias: The Ghost of Salvation Point

By: Jodi Auborn
Publisher: CreateSpace
Publication Date: December 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4993-2123-4
Reviewed by: Amy Lignor
Review Date: February 3, 2015

Who would think a hundred-year-old ghost and a child in the present-day world would team up to stop a treasure hunter who is desperate to uncover a pirate legend and line their greedy pockets with fortune? Well...it can happen. And it has happened because of the extremely creative and fun mind of Jodi Auborn.

Everyone loves the Indiana Jones world, as well as the pirate kingdom; by adding a ghost into the mix, this plot becomes sheer perfection that will appeal to all sorts of readers.

In 1913, there were lighthouse keepers on our planet. There was no automation at that time to shine the light that let brave sailors see the rocky, jagged cliffs that would take down their boat in seconds. In Salvation Point, Maine, Matthias is one of those keepers. As a young boy, he had watched his father be taken from him by Mother Nature's storm, and he took over the job of lighthouse keeper to make sure that no one ever met that same horrible fate. He worked long and hard, waking up at all hours to trim the wicks before heading to the cottage and sitting with his calico cat. Unfortunately, his fate would end up being as heartbreaking as his loving father's...

Fast forward to a young man in 2013. Dylan is beyond excited for the family trip to Salvation Point. This small town with less than a thousand people in it, will be his host for the summer. His father has actually inherited a house from his Uncle Zack - who, for the most part, was a hermit during his lifetime. Uncle Zack had been the owner of a real lighthouse, with cottage, and Dylan is ecstatic to see it.

Dylan doesn't miss his home in New York City a bit; he spends his time roaming the small town and gets hooked on some pretty wild tales about pirate treasure - legends that are a true part of Salvation Point. But that's not all that amazes Dylan. He will soon discover a man named Matthias living in his bedroom. This is not just any man, this is a ghost - an old lighthouse keeper who speaks in gruff grunts, but soon teams up with the boy in order to stop a pretty villainous cad who's out to get wealthy, even if kidnapping is something that has to be done.

The fun; the imagination; the thrills and adventure - Matthias is a work that all readers - no matter what the age - will want to read. This is an escape, a creative escape. If you are a senior citizen who loves to feel like a kid again; or, you are a kid who thrives on the unknown, this book is for you.

Quill says: An A+ for this author. One of the very few books you keep on your shelf to read again and again when the need for adventure 'calls.'

http://www.featheredquill.com/reviews/teen/auborn2.shtml

Great New Review from Bethanie's Books - Reviews and Faves
Matthias: The Ghost of Salvation Point

By: Jodi Auborn

Genre: Middle School Mystery Thriller

I love mysteries, especially those that have ghosts in them. I must say that this is one of the best I have read this year. Considering this year is almost over, I would have to say that is really big. Another Bethanie’s Fave has been found. Ms. Auborn has brought to us a timeless story that brings the beauty of Maine into it. Lighthouses have always had a mystery to them, in my opinion, and Ms. Auborn’s story has brought this to life.

What makes it another reason for being a fave is the star is a young boy. She brought the natural boy curiosity to the table in this book. Tell me one boy who wouldn’t want to know of a secret treasure found in the backyard of his summer home next to a lighthouse in Maine. Better yet how about finding your best friend in the ghost that is the keeper of the lighthouse.

I am a southern girl, myself. Born and raised in the state of Alabama. I have always wanted to visit Maine and to see its timeless beauty for myself. This book allowed me to somewhat take myself there. I could imagine being the one who discovered the ghost. I could also imagine becoming friends with him. I can also imagine being the mother or the daughter wanting to just go back home, and the Father just trying to bring his small town where he grew up back to the place it once was.

I love the many aspects in this story. Although most that try to put a lot into their book can’t really bring it together in a good reading flow, Ms. Auborn was definitely able to bring everything together and make it flow perfectly for the reader. There is a ghost story, a treasure hunt, a kidnapping, and yet it all fits together like a beautiful puzzle.

I am so impressed by this author that I plan to get her other books and read them. I also hope that she continues this particular mystery type. Adventure is always fun and exciting. Throw a couple of thrilling moments in it and you have a rather, well-written book. Would I recommend this book? Yes, I would.

Thank you Ms. Auborn for sharing your book with me! Happy Reading!!

https://bethaniesbooks.wordpress.com/2015/12/29/matthias-the-ghost-of-salvation-point-by-jodi-auborn-review-by-bethanie/