Ghost Ship
"I am so pleased to have written my first children's book and to have my dear friend Wendell Minor illustrate it. I thought it would be a daunting project, but with six grandchildren and eleven stepgrandchildren, I've been telling stories to children for a long time."\ -- Mary Higgins Clark\ Thomas loved his summer visits to his grandmother's on Cape Cod. He spent hours wondering about the sailing ships of the past and imagining their stories. He dreamed of being on a sailing ship himself....
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"I am so pleased to have written my first children's book and to have my dear friend Wendell Minor illustrate it. I thought it would be a daunting project, but with six grandchildren and eleven stepgrandchildren, I've been telling stories to children for a long time." -- Mary Higgins Clark Thomas loved his summer visits to his grandmother's on Cape Cod. He spent hours wondering about the sailing ships of the past and imagining their stories. He dreamed of being on a sailing ship himself. One afternoon after a night of terrible thunderstorms, Thomas finds, deep in the sand, a weathered, old-fashioned belt buckle. When he picks it up, a boy his own age, Silas Rich, who was a cabin boy on a ship called the Monomoy that sailed almost 250 years ago, appears. Suddenly the world of sailing ships is very near as Silas tells his tale. Beloved and bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark tells a story of mystery and adventure that will transport readers to a time and place beyond their imaginings in her first book for children. Wendell Minor's inspired paintings make a time long ago very real.Publishers WeeklyBestselling adult author Clark's debut children's book meshes two eras, each depicted by Minor (Lucky) in finely detailed, light-infused paintings. Modern-day nine-year-old Thomas has grown up hearing his grandmother speak of Captain Hallett, who built her seaside Cape Cod home more than 300 years ago. One day, while beachcombing after a storm on the Cape, Thomas finds a belt buckle featuring the image of a ship, which in turn conjures a ghostlike boy dressed in 17th-century clothing. The ghostly boy introduces himself as Silas, a cabin boy on Hallett's ship, then explains that the lighthouse outside Thomas's grandmother's home did not exist in the days when Hallett sailed and that he and his peers had to do some quick thinking to save the Captain from shipwreckers one night. Clark takes some of the wind out of Silas's sails when the boy pauses during the dramatic tale to explain some terms ("Sober light? I don't know what that means," says Thomas; "Perhaps you would say twilight... or... dusk.... What I mean is the time just before the sun is totally vanished in the sky," Silas replies). When Silas successfully thwarts the efforts of the "mooncussers" (aka shipwreckers), he earns the very belt buckle Thomas retrieved from the sand. Later, Thomas returns to his grandmother's house, where the tale comes neatly full circle: he gazes on a portrait of Hallett, who sports the buckle as the man's ship floats in the background. Ages 6-10. (Apr.)Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information
Ghost Ship \ \ By Mary Higgins Clark Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books Copyright © 2007 Mary Higgins Clark\ All right reserved.\ ISBN: 978-1-4169-3514-8 \ \ \ \ Chapter One Summer had begun and Thomas was visiting his grandmother who lived in a very old house in Cape Cod that had once belonged to a sea captain. Sometimes she told him stories about the great sailing ships that had come to Cape Cod many years ago from all over the world. She told him that in the old days when a storm suddenly began, a ship trying to reach harbor would be driven into the rocks and sand bars, where it would break up and sink. \ Thomas loved to hear the stories. He wondered about the sea captain who had built this house more than two hundred years ago. He wondered if that sea captain ever lost a ship in a storm. He thought about that a lot.\ One day Thomas went down the long flight of stairs from the lawn to the beach. He had promised his grandmother that he would not go too near the water until she joined him. His grandmother knew that Thomas would never break his word.\ There had been a heavy storm the night before. The wind had whipped the waves until they slammed halfway up the stairs before crashing back onto the shore. Now the beach was littered with shells and rocks that had been washed in by the sea. Thomas began to sift sand through his fingers. The sand was damp, but he liked that.\ Sometimes after a storm he would find unusual things that had been in the ocean. Once he had even found a small ring. His grandmother said it wasn't valuable but that it looked as though it had been in the ocean for a long, long time.\ He wondered if after the big storm last night it was possible that he would find another ring. Or maybe he'd come upon an unbroken shell. If he did find one, he would put it up to his ear and listen, because shells hold the sound of the sea.\ But then, suddenly, his fingers felt a hard metal object. He had to dig around it to set it free. It was much heavier than a shell. It looked very, very old. He ran his fingers over it and began to rub the sand and salt from it. But it was like trying to rub cement off a wall. He looked around and reached for a big rock and began to try to scrape the crust off whatever it was he was holding in his hand.\ (Continues...)\ \ \ \ \ Excerpted from Ghost Ship by Mary Higgins Clark Copyright © 2007 by Mary Higgins Clark. Excerpted by permission.\ All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.\ Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site. \ \
\ Publishers WeeklyBestselling adult author Clark's debut children's book meshes two eras, each depicted by Minor (Lucky) in finely detailed, light-infused paintings. Modern-day nine-year-old Thomas has grown up hearing his grandmother speak of Captain Hallett, who built her seaside Cape Cod home more than 300 years ago. One day, while beachcombing after a storm on the Cape, Thomas finds a belt buckle featuring the image of a ship, which in turn conjures a ghostlike boy dressed in 17th-century clothing. The ghostly boy introduces himself as Silas, a cabin boy on Hallett's ship, then explains that the lighthouse outside Thomas's grandmother's home did not exist in the days when Hallett sailed—and that he and his peers had to do some quick thinking to save the Captain from shipwreckers one night. Clark takes some of the wind out of Silas's sails when the boy pauses during the dramatic tale to explain some terms ("Sober light? I don't know what that means," says Thomas; "Perhaps you would say twilight... or... dusk.... What I mean is the time just before the sun is totally vanished in the sky," Silas replies). When Silas successfully thwarts the efforts of the "mooncussers" (aka shipwreckers), he earns the very belt buckle Thomas retrieved from the sand. Later, Thomas returns to his grandmother's house, where the tale comes neatly full circle: he gazes on a portrait of Hallett, who sports the buckle as the man's ship floats in the background. Ages 6-10. (Apr.)\ Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information\ \ \ \ \ Children's Literature\ - Laura Ruttig\ Set in Cape Cod, this imaginative journey begins at a modern-day beach but quickly travels back through time with the help of a young boy's ghost. Thomas, the modern-day boy, is digging idly in the sand when he finds an unusual belt buckle. As he removes the dirt and debris, the buckle begins to shine and a boy about his age named Silas appears. Silas tells an intriguing story of an 18th-century near-shipwreck caused by "mooncussers"—thieves who put lanterns on the beach to try to misdirect a ship into a false harbor. Thomas is fascinated because the house where he is staying was built by Captain Hallett, whose ship was almost crashed. Clark's talented storytelling creates a captivating link between Silas and Thomas that allows the reader to decide whether the tale is purely in Thomas's imagination or not. Minor's magnificent illustrations give breathtaking life to the tale, particularly the wonderful ghostly appearance of Silas, as he successfully conveys the feel of the time period and the suspense of the story. Ultimately, this intriguing balance and interaction between the text and pictures creates an outstanding picture book for roughly first- and second-grade students, or younger children if read aloud.\ \ \ Kirkus ReviewsThe prolific author of adult novels turns her hand to children's literature with a ghostly picture-book story. Young Thomas loves to indulge in his daydreams about sailing history while at his grandmother's in Cape Cod. One day, while scanning the beach for interesting objects, he spots what turns out to be an old belt buckle. Suddenly, an opaque boy who looks much like Thomas appears-Silas, who is from the early colonial history of Massachusetts, is the owner of the belt buckle. In this wordy story, he tells of an attempt by dishonest locals to wreck and scavenge from a ship via false lights, and how he and his friends were able to stop the attempted murder of Thomas's ancestor Captain Hallett. Minor's illustrations enliven the lengthy story; the effects of the ghostly figure, the sinister bad guys and the signal fires definitely help. His use of color continues to impress, as does his ability to employ unique perspectives. But the story itself is forced and awkward, and even pretty pictures can't bring it to life. While it could be useful for teachers needing read-alouds about American history, this is not a necessary purchase. (Picture book. 7-10)\ \
