Stoneway Paperback – Import, 14 April 2019

For the first time reading a book by Christopher Francis, I found myself crying. This was probably one of my favorites of all of his books. Maybe it is because I am a teacher and see the effects of bullying at school. This last year was particularly hard on a couple of students. I tried really hard to be there for some of them. It is one thing to have a teacher in your corner and another to have true friends stand up for you. That is what this book is truly about. Yes there is a ghost in this story. He is there because his ties the bullied to the bully. He makes an appearance to get help. This is not a ghost story. I have read reviews about this book that thought the "ghost story" was lacking. Because a ghost appears it doesn't mean it is a scary ghost story.The author did a great job of keeping the story flowing and letting us see how the characters changed over time. Does everyone change? No, just like in real life not everyone changes. I read this as an ebook. I have since purchased it for my classroom. That is how good I feel this book and its message is. Well don Mr. Francis, Well done!

Set at a summer camp during the school year (in my sixth grade class we had a similar experience), this book, which is written by a middle grade teacher has authenticity to it. The characters all read as true-to-life, although I felt that Brandon was unnecessarily cruel to Simon, who he teased mercilessly; I especially felt that putting a garbage can over Simon was a bit much even for a middle school/junior high age boy. (do kids really do this sort of thing now?) Even though the characters were authentically real in their actions, I would have liked to get more of a sense of the narrator Bentley. Simon and other characters are well defined in terms of their personalities, looks, and actions, but Bentley remains flat and dull, not much depth to him or terribly interesting in personality and actions; I never really got a clear sense of him as a unique individual. At first I was fascinated by the mention of the ghost (I am esp interested in ghost stories + in fact have seen two ghosts), but was a little disappointed when that plot element was put on the back burner + the book focused on the boys’ relationships instead; they were interesting too, but in a different way. At heart, this is a coming-of-age novel that explores what it’s really like for a boy to make difficult decisions in the face of peer pressure, (something we all deal with), especially who to be friends with, in the context of the camp backdrop.

The message expressed within this book was not a subtle one. This book focused on kids going to a camp for a school trip. Unfortunately, Simon is the target of terrible bullying. Witnessing all of this is Bentley, and he wants to say something but fears losing ground with his friends. Surrounding all of this is the fact that Bentley sees a ghost. And so does Simon. This weird shared moment between the two breaks through the barrier of bullying and secrets are uncovered. I loved the characterization in this book. The mystery surrounding the ghost story was lost on me just a little but but the message conveyed warmed my heart. It's a needed read during a day and age of easy bullying. The adults in the book we're pretty vacant and distant but it sort of made sense to me. Excellent book. I hope there are more with these characters.

This is a great YA story with a realistic, relevant message about bullying. The ghost mystery could of been a little more developed, or at least more prominent, it kind of dipped in and out of my interest as I read. The characters were believable and likeable (or not so likeable when necessary) and the situations were definitely things I experienced or saw others experience at that age. I don't think my fourth grade son is quite ready for this book, but I'll have him read it next year when he'll most likely get more out of it.