A Ghost of a Chance: A Novel - Hardcover

Carris, Joan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316130168 ISBN 13: 9780316130165

Publisher: Little Brown & Co, 1992

Synopsis

During their summer vacation in Beaufort, North Carolina, Punch and his friend Tom join a local boy, Skeeter Grace, on a search for hidden treasure, a quest that leeds to an encounter with a school of dolphins and a ghost.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews:

A summer-vacation novel with everything--dolphins, buried treasure, a pirate's ghost, and a most appealing cast of humans. The Wagners are vacationing in bayside Beaufort, N.C. Punch, 11, is annoyed that his father has arranged for taciturn Skeeter Grace to show him around; but when the boys discover a common enthusiasm for dolphins, their touchy relationship becomes a tentative friendship. Beaufort boasts a haunted mansion that once belonged to Blackbeard; local tales of plunder hidden on nearby islands inspire Punch to organize treasure-hunting expeditions. The boys never find Blackbeard's treasure, but they do uncover artifacts of historic value; they also find trouble when they sample a cache of buried liquor. And, on a midnight visit, they encounter a terrifying apparition that turns out to be a sometime actor and caretaker who guards the vacant mansion from trespassers by pretending to be Blackbeard's ghost. Carris (Witch-Cat, 1984), who has a sure touch with the supernatural, leaves just enough of the ghostly manifestations unexplained to tweak the imagination, and weaves in salutary messages about respect for marine life and the dangers of alcohol. Map; occasional full-page b&w drawings. (Fiction. 9-12) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 4-6-- Twelve-year-old Punch Wagner's family and his friend Tom vacation in Beaufort, North Carolina. The boys' immediate dislike of Skeeter Grace, the local boy who is to be their vacation guide and who ridicules these ``Yankee tourists,'' turns to admiration of the Southern boy's knowledge of dolphins. The three watch the graceful animals and hunt for Blackbeard's buried treasure along the coast as well as in the yard of the pirate's purportedly haunted house. Skeeter has a heavy dialect that is awkward and jarring. The message of the novel, the boys' real treasure find of maturation, also is handled a bit heavily. On a more positive note, the book has humorous incidents and is entertaining, with a swiftly moving plot and a depiction of a loving family. The North Carolina setting is well drawn. --Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Little Brown & Co
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0316130168
• ISBN 13: 9780316130165
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 144
• Illustrator: Henry Paul