Ghost Ship
Deitlof Reiche
Scholastic
Fiction, YA Fantasy
***
DESCRIPTION: Over two hundred years ago, a mysterious, scar-faced man commissioned a figurehead for his new ship, the ominously-named Storm Goddess. The carver, on a tight deadline, broke with tradition and pieced together a pre-carved body with a new head, almost certainly dooming the vessel from any sailor's standpoint. The ship went down at sea with all hands, and today all that remains of man or ship survive at its port of origin, a seaside tourist town. The mysterious man's portrait hangs in Ye Olde Seashell Room, a restaurant whose walls are covered with seashells from around the world, and the head of the Storm Goddess's figurehead looks down on the room from the wall, the only piece of wreckage to survive... or was it? Vicki's father runs the restaurant at the Seashell Room, and she works as a waitress (with her other siblings) when school's out. Since she was a little girl, she thought the figurehead was hiding a special secret. With the help of a science-minded boy tourist named Peter, she is about to discover those secrets, kept for two centuries. Naturally, any secret that old is likely to be a dark and dangerous one, and even in this day and age there are those willing to kill to keep it hidden.
REVIEW: As the title implies, this tale involves ghosts, secrets, and a number of clues scattered throughout Vicki's sleepy little town. Vicki herself is a fairly believable, brave heroine, piecing together a centuries-old puzzle with her new friend Peter (who, in a year or two, will probably be a boyfriend proper, after all the blushing and grinning and such she does whenever he's around.) Like many Young Adult books, several of the grown-ups are more caricatures than characters, acting as comic relief, somewhat larger-than-life antagonists, or Unexpected Allies, people whom the kids aren't sure they can trust because they're older but who come through in the end. None of the characters are overly original, but only a few were downright annoying or wastes of plot space. I felt a certain listlessness and impatience when reading it, especially toward the end (after an unnecessary "second prologue" pretty much outlines how things are going to go, though the story itself takes a long time to get there.) The logic of the haunting feels a bit sketchy, too – the ghosts of the doomed ship manage feats above and beyond what most spirits are capable of in these tales, yet seem helpless in other, lesser ways. This book doesn't linger long in the memory, but it's a nice enough read if you're looking for a ghost story with a nautical flavor.
You might also enjoy:
Devil's Race (Avi, YA Fiction - A boy is haunted by an evil ancestor)
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (Avi, YA Fiction - An upper-class English girl is accused of murder on a 19th century sailing ship)
Something Wicked This Way Comes (Ray Bradbury, YA Fiction - Two small-town American boys find evil secrets behind an autumn carnival)
The Wish List (Eoin Colfer, YA Fiction - Killed at 14, the fate of a girl's immortal soul rests on her ability to help a cantankerous old man complete his lifetime wish list)
The Nina Tanleven books (Bruce Coville, YA Fiction - Two girls do some amateur ghostbusting)
A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens, Fiction - A cold-hearted miser has a fateful encounter with Christmas spirits)
The Piratica series (Tanith Lee, YA Fiction - In an alternate-history world, a headstrong teen girl sets out to become an honorable pirate queen, like her mother before her)
The Bloody Jack Adventures (L. A. Meyer, YA Fiction - An 18th century London girl, orphaned and living on the streets, escapes to sea as a "ship's boy" aboard a warship)
Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson, YA Fiction - An English boy finds himself caught up in the hunt for a dead pirate's treasure)
The Ghost Witch (Betty Ren Wright, YA Fiction - A girl learns that her new home is haunted by a witch)
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