Book with knights, swords, and ghosts! (just sayin')

Funke, Cornelia (2012)  Ghost Knight.  New York:  Little Brown



Opening lines:  "I was eleven when my mother sent me to boarding school in Salisbury.  Yes, granted, she did have tears in her eyes when she brought me to the station.  But she still put me on that train."

Jon hates boarding school at first, but then he discovers a friend in the form of a quirky girl named Ella.  Then, together, they discover some ghosts.  One ghost says he is there to protect Jon from the other ghost, who he says is a murderer.  Jon, however, isn't sure who to trust.  This is a king of mystery/adventure story.  The more Jon and Ella learn about the two ghost's histories, the closer they see to get to danger.

To be honest, I don't think this book is as good as Funke's Inkheart series, or the less well-known Igraine the Brave.  I thought the story was sometimes disjointed and I had trouble entering into the world of this book.   But I am not sure my opinion matters.  This is a book that has knights, swords, and ghosts in it.  That alone should be enough to attract the attention of many elementary and middle school readers.  I don't think it will end up being thier favorite book, but this one will keep their attention for a while.

This book is accessible for strong third grade readers through middle school.  Although Jon talks back to his step-father a bit and although the book has some violence in it, I cannot imagine that there is anything in here that any reasonable parent would object to.

So if you know of a student who is crazy for knights and swords, this might be worth passing on to them.  But this isn't the book to try to ignite a new interest in knights and their world.