Category: Young Adult/Teen Publisher: Bewrite Books, UK
ISBN-10: 1904224644
Type: Fiction
Pages: 250
Copyright: Nov 1 2002
Grandfather: Is the nightmare grandfather even more evil than anyone ever imagined? It's up a secret investigation squad of schoolboy detectives to unearth the chilling truth.
TheGhost: A group of newcomers to a boy's boarding school discover an unerathly new friend in their haunted dormitory. The boys need help but so does the friendly phantom searching for the answer to a dark secret from the grave.
Excerpt
Grandfather: The door behind me opened and I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand. But is was only Grandfather.
“We don’t gossip with domestics. Go to your room and stay there.”
Boy, was I mad. It’s darn well impossible to slam a swing door, I discovered, but I stomped upstairs and slammed my room door, hard enough to shake the house. I could hear voices while I climbed and it sounded as if Mrs James was giving as good as she got. I really hoped so. She was a nice old bat.
Ghost: I gripped the edge of the plank, pulled and fell on my bum. The plank was loose or maybe rotten. My flashlight, perched on the junk pile shone into the empty hole. I laughed with relief, picked myself up, and took the torch to shine it along the space behind the wall.
To the left nothing — to the right, a skull grinned at me. Before I knew it, I was up the stairs leaning back against the cellar door shaking. Gradually, I got my breath and my courage back and crept back down and across the cellar floor. There was no doubt. A skeleton sat hunched in the space, its face towards the open space left by plank I’d taken out.
This time I went up the stairs more slowly. This was Jamie. Jamie was gentle. Jamie wouldn’t hurt me. A skeleton couldn’t move. A skeleton couldn’t hurt me.
At the top of the stairs, I closed the door behind me, and took deep breaths. The Chaplain, that’s it, go for the Chaplain.
Grandfather & The Ghost
Grandfather and The Ghost are two novellas bound within the same book. Both revolve around central characters who are young schoolboys, around thirteen years of age, who experience the usual trials and tribulations of school life; bullying, loneliness and being an outsider in a new school.
The stories are extremely easy to read and proceed at a reasonably rapid pace. At no point during either story did I feel that the writing faltered. In fact, quite the opposite. I think Hugh McCracken has an excellent sense of proportion with his writing making the storyline spread evenly across the length of each novella.
The writing style, subject matter and language used makes Grandfather and The Ghost ideal ‘post-Hogwarts’ reading material. Not having children I wouldn't like to hazard a guess as to the age-range that would enjoy these stories but having read the Harry Potter books I believe that McCracken's stories would appeal to a similar group of young readers. Parents can also be confident that there is nothing in these stories that could offend anyone. Indeed, the subject matter (bullying) could encourage the reader to express his/her own experiences. Good stories that are perfect for young adult readers without treating them like children!!!
Exerpt from a Review by Lesley Mazey, of Eternal Night, www.eternalnight.co.uk
Grandfather & The Ghost
I've read Grandfather & the Ghost.
I was hooked and very surprised that a young adult could sustain my attention (with characters of such young age). I hated the grandfather right from the start. You do a good villain! I suspected there was another man usurping the real grandfather's place when extended family members mentioned: “He was never like that.”
As for the ghost story, little Jamie was so sweet. I was sad to see that his self-imposed exile to that claustrophobic secret hiding place caused his death. But, while he caused mischief, I felt he was priceless. Bullies are everywhere. But at least he got some kind or revenge. Right?
Review by Carole Spenser
Grandfather & The Ghost
Grandfather and The Ghost are two amazing stories that pre-teens and young teenagers can enjoy. Full of mystery and suspense, the readers will be taken on a journey in which every corner reveals a new question and a surprising answer. While at parts there are some details that some might find “creepy” (when they find Jamie’s skeleton in The Ghost) both stories are quite well done and I recommend the book to all pre-teens and teens who enjoy a good mystery.
Review by Shane Johnstone, Kanata – Age 13
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