Ghost Writer - Softcover

Jarman, Julia

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0754079074 ISBN 13: 9780754079071

Publisher: Galaxy, 2004

Synopsis

Take a boy with a reading problem, a protective mother, and a village primary school set in its original 19th century buildings and there all the ingredients for an accessible modern ghost story...Frankie wants to stay in this school that he likes, and hide from his mother that there is a bullying teacher who thinks that 'dyslexic' is another name for lazy. Who is the ghost boy who writes: Get her on the blackboard in the original classroom - and what is his connection with the cupboard at the back? What really happened in the influenza epidemic that swept the village 70 years before - and who died in it?

About this title

Review

Frankie enjoys school except for hs bullying teacher ...this ghost story kept young readers on the edge of their seats! -- PICK OF THE YEAR 2003 Federation of Children's Book Groups

I would give Ghost writer a 10/10 becasue it gives me the creeps and is so cool!!!! Year 6 boy. -- WEST SUSSEX CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD 2004-5

From the Author

I met Frankie, well lots of Frankies, in schools I visited up and down the country. They struggled with reading and writing, but were obviously not thick. They helped me understand what dyslexia was. I wanted to write a story to help other people understand. I wanted it to be an exciting story, with a strong plot, and at last I found one, when I started to research the history of my local school. As I read the old log books, one name appeared again and again. Described by the headmaster as 'a naturally troublesome boy' Alfred Smalley was caned again and again. His crime? Untidy writing and 'persistently using his left hand.' Like many dyslexics Alfred was left-handed. Forced to use his right, his writing was even more ill-formed. His hand skidded off the slate, scratching the desk, so he was caned for damaging the desk. Poor boy! What a brutal head master! But according to one old lady I interviewed, there was a woman teacher just as cruel, and she had her own way of punishing children - locking them in the cupboard at the back of the classroom. What if she'd forgotten to let one of them out?! A first line came into my head "There was cupboard at the back of Room 9 and sometimes it opened for no reason that anyone could see." And a new book was on its way!

Teachers tell me this book is great 'for doing the Victorians'. Children of Stockport voted it the best book of 2003 and awarded me the Stockport Schools Book Award (KS2) They liked it because it was spooky!

About this edition

• Publisher: Galaxy
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0754079074
• ISBN 13: 9780754079071
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208