Breathe : a ghost story

Format:

Book

Title:

Breathe : a ghost story

Author:

McNish, Cliff.

ISBN:

9780822564430

Edition:

1st American ed.

Publication Information:

Minneapolis : Carolrhoda Books, 2006.

Physical Description:

261 pages ; 21 cm.

Series title(s):

Texas Lone Star Reading List, 2008-2009.

Contents:

The Ghost Children -- The Drop of Blood -- The Allure of the Dead -- Attack -- The Ghost Mother -- The Death Room -- Flight -- The Rocking Chair -- Isabella -- Bargaining for Souls -- Between the Lips -- A New, Fast Body -- A Proper Little Man -- Ringlety-Jing -- I'm a Good Mother, Aren't I -- A Mother Who is not a Mother -- The Nightmare Passage -- Bruised -- Snow -- The Knife -- The Wardrobe -- Only Darkness -- The Everlasting Twilight -- The Pillow -- The Loved Ones.

Summary:

When he and his mother move into an old farmhouse in the English countryside, asthmatic, twelve-year-old Jack discovers that he can communicate with the ghosts inhabiting the house and inadvertently establishes a relationship with a tormented, malevolent spirit that threatens to destroy both his mother and himself.

Subject(s):

Extrasensory perception -- Juvenile fiction.

Asthma -- Juvenile fiction.

Single-parent families -- Juvenile fiction.

Death -- Juvenile fiction.

Grief -- Juvenile fiction.

Ghosts -- Fiction.

Extrasensory perception -- Fiction.

Asthma -- Fiction.

Single-parent families -- Fiction.

Death -- Fiction.

Grief -- Fiction.

England -- Juvenile fiction.

England -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

England -- Juvenile fiction.

Genre:

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Sheridan Public Library	YA McNish, C.	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Jack is not a normal boy. He can talk to ghosts. In his new home, an aging farmhouse, he meets the Ghost Mother, a grief-stricken spirit who becomes very attached to him...too attached. He learns that the Ghost Mother is preying in the cruelest imaginable way on four child ghosts who are trapped in the house, stealing their energy to sustain her own. Before Jack can figure out how to help them, the Ghost Mother takes possession of his real mother's body. Jack wants to fight back, but he has severe asthma and risks fatal attacks with any physical exertion. It will take all his resources, and his mother's as well, to fight off the Ghost Mother and save the ghost children from a horrible fate.

Reviews (2)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 4-8-Asthmatic Jack and his recently widowed mother move into an old farmhouse-but they aren't alone. The spirits of four children also inhabit it, but only Jack can see and hear them. Those spirits aren't alone, either. A Ghost Mother rules the roost and has enslaved the ghost children. And now she is after Jack. However, he has a second sight that might help him save the souls of those dead, abused children. Can he act fast enough to save himself and his mother? McNish keeps the pacing and action moving right along. While the story is plot driven, the author gives his characters substance, and his language usage and style are fairly sophisticated. This is a well-crafted story that is weightier than the standard chiller. Filled with suspense, it will keep readers riveted to the pages.-Elaine Baran Black, Gwinnett County Public Library, Lawrenceville, GA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publisher's Weekly Review

An evil presence lurks in the 200-year-old farmhouse that Jack moves into with his mother. Jack, who suffers from asthma, can communicate with ghosts (an ability he recognized after his father's death), and on his first day in the house, he senses that it harbors many secrets. Living in the house is a ghost Jack names Ghost Mother, as well as four ghost children of various ages. Readers will quickly figure out that the Ghost Mother is a menacing character who holds the ghost children prisoners. At first, Jack enjoys his conversations with Ghost Mother but then things take a disturbing turn. It seems that Ghost Mother wants to be Jack's mother ("I never had a son, you know, though I often wished for one of my own"). In her desperation, she enters Jack's mother's body. When Jack doesn't respond the way she'd hoped, Ghost Mother seeks revenge. A chain of events builds the suspense until Jack's near-death face-off with Ghost Mother. The alternating story in McNish's (The Silver Child) gruesome and chilling tale reveals what happened in the farmhouse 150 years before. Unfortunately, the happily-ever-after ending detracts from the overall creepiness of this intriguing and rather scary ghost story. Ages 10-up. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved All rights reserved.