Summary

While visiting his grandmother on Cape Cod, Thomas heads to the beach to dig for treasures. This time, Thomas has found something special. It’s an old belt buckle that dates back to the 16th century. But while cleaning the sand and grime off the buckle, Thomas suddenly finds himself in the company of young ghost boy.

Review

I guess it’s Mary Higgins Clark week here at Epiphanies of Beauty.  On Monday I reviewed her first suspense novel, and now today I am taking a look at her first children’s book. This book is counting towards my October RIP reading challenge. Hey! It has the word “ghost” in it!

I discovered the book quite by accident. I was swiping through my library’s ebook collection when Ghost Ship popped up. The book blurb intrigued me, and the pictures were gorgeous. So I borrowed it.

And that confirmed by opinion. I’m not a fan of e-picture books. They might work for you, but they just don’t work for me.  The drawings were bright and shiny to look at, but there’s something magical about turning the thick, colorful pages of a favorite picture book, that can’t be duplicated in shook form. For me, anyway. So I borrowed the hard copy from my library.

I wanted to find out see how Higgins Clark translated suspense into something for children, and book title “Ghost Ship” seemed it would fit the bill.

Sadly, the book didn’t deliver.  The writing is clunky at times, and just doesn’t flow off the tongue – a requirement for any picture book in our household.  Even reading to myself, I had to stop a few times to understand what had just happened.

Also, there wasn’t a ghost ship. There was a ghost boy, and the story of what he did to save a ship. There was a shifting wind and talk of fires. But nary a ghost ship in the book. There was the story of a ship – but there wasn’t a ghost ship.

The pictures are really quite lovely. They were pivotal to me in understanding the plot line of the book.

Anyway, I don’t wanna be a mooncusser. This is Mary Higgins Clark’s first picture book, so I’m going to go easy on her. She has a Christmas book for kids – maybe you’ll see a Mary Higgins Clark week in December, too.

What You Need to Know

• Role Models/Authority Figures – Good is good. Bad is bad. Good guys win.
  
• Violence – A fire ravages the next town. And some mooncussers try to cause trouble.
• Language – Clean
• Sexual Content – None
  
• Consumerism – None
  
• Drinking/Smoking/Drugs – None
  
• Religion – None
  
• Other –
  
• Neat stuff –  The word mooncusser. You’ll have to read the book to find out what it means. And I’ve used it incorrectly in my review. It’s such a fun word, though, I had to work it.