Among the Ghosts [Hardcover]

Amber Benson (Author), Sina Grace (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 31, 2010

The New Newbridge Academy has a strange, storied history and a gothic atmosphere, and since Noh’s aunt is a teacher there, it’s where Noh will be spending the summer while her father travels for work. Noh, slightly eccentric herself, enjoys exploring the campus, but things get spooky when she meets several other children near an old burned-out dormitory. There shouldn’t be students around in the summer, right? But these kids turn out to be ghosts, and they need Noh’s help. She is the only “realie” who can see them—and, now that the ghosts have started to disappear, the only one who can save them.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 4-6-So that he can explore the Appalachians, Noleen Maypother's scientist father sends her off to her Aunt Clara's for the summer-apparently without checking his sister's availability first. Noh arrives to find a vacant house and decides to take the train to New Newbridge, where her other aunt teaches at the academy. Since Noh will be a sixth grader there in the fall, it seems a logical solution. Aunt Sarah welcomes her and helps her get settled into the old boarding school. But as soon as she arrives, strange things start happening: she meets other children around the ruins of the burned-out West Wing and discovers that they are the ghosts of former students and that she is the only "realie" who can see them. And when her ghost friends start to disappear, it is up to her to solve the mystery and help the ghosts who are left. Benson incorporates some creative ingredients but fails to combine them in a satisfying way. The characters are two-dimensional, the dialogue is stilted, and the plotline so far-fetched and meandering that even the ghosts and the "nasty thing" that lurks in the background will fail to keep most students' attention. Occasional black-and-white drawings are scattered throughout and add nothing to the story. Readers with an interest in the paranormal are better directed to books by Mary Downing Hahn or to Elizabeth Cody Kimmel's "Suddenly Supernatural" series (Little, Brown).-Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

From Booklist

Eleven-year-old Noleen-Anne (Noh) arrives at her new boarding school before the start of the school year, but she doesn’t lack for company. She befriends a bevy of ghosts only she can see, and discovers that a great evil roams the burnt-out shell of the school’s west wing. Noh’s ethereal friends begin to disappear one by one, and the trail leads to a whopper of an experiment in the basement of the ruined building. This is an ambitious tale involving friendships, aphid farming, and generating electricity, just to name a few of the many plot particulars. As such, too many details and tangents overload what is otherwise a solid ghost story into a jumble, and the few black-and-white line drawings sprinkled throughout the text seem more incidental than integral. However, sympathetic characters such as Noh and her spectral friends will save it for some, while the short chapters move the action along at a good pace. The spooky subject matter makes it likely to circulate as well. Grades 4-6. --Cindy Welch

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Aladdin (August 31, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 141699405X
• ISBN-13: 978-1416994053
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,469,757 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's all about perspective.., August 29, 2010

By 

Theresa (heartland) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Among the Ghosts (Hardcover)

Spending the summer at school is a dreadful thought for most kids, but Noleen-Anne (Noh for short) sees the opportunity as an adventure. Noh is sent to stay with her aunt, a teacher at the New Newbridge Academy, while her father heads to the Appalachians. The first stop for the young explorer is a nearby cemetery where she has a strange encounter with an old woman. The woman actually throws a stone at the young girl. Under ordinary circumstances, having a rock tossed at you would be an upsetting event, but Noh is no ordinary girl. There is an evil eye carved on the stone and, instead of being afraid, Noh decides the carving is a good luck charm and keeps it her pocket. Her exploration of the Academy reveals a series of mysterious events involving disappearing ghosts, marching ants, floating white balls and paths that always end at the beginning no matter which direction you take to reach the other side. She is determined to solve the puzzle and enlists the help of a former student who is more stunned that Noh is a "realie" than Noh is in discovering, with the aid of the evil eye stone, her ability to see and speak with ghosts.

This is a quick paced adventure with fully developed characters and a well thought out plot. Lessons in bravery, social interaction and perspective are told without being preachy or bogging down the narrative flow. There are short "intermissions" if you will, from a malevolent entity throughout the tale that, while initially seemed jarring, ultimately added a layer of suspense and creepiness to the story. Although it's been a long while since reading books for this age group, (I'm currently surrounded by kids under 5,) AMONG THE GHOSTS reminds me of the fantastic GOOSEBUMPS series by R.L. Stine.

I would also like to mention the amazing illustrations throughout the book by Sina Grace. The black and white drawings add a nice visual layer to the story. I especially like the sketch of Noh in the cemetery. You really get a sense of the serenity Noh feels being among the ghosts. It's also worth noting, for YA readers above this age group, there is a connection between Noh and the New Newbridge Academy with the author's Calliope-Reaper Jones series. Hopefully, the adventures of Noh and her ghostly pals will continue. I'm interested in finding out what happens when the "realies" come back to school.

4.0 out of 5 stars Welcome to a Truly Enchanting World, January 20, 2011

By 

Alexandro C. Telander "Alex C. Telander" (Roseville, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Among the Ghosts (Hardcover)

Amber Benson takes a break from Calliope Reaper-Jones and tells an enchanting little story for the younger folk. In the style of Neil Gaiman's Coraline and Graveyard Book, Benson creates a unique world of fun characters in a very interesting place, with just enough scariness to keep young readers on the edge of their seats.

Noleen-Anne Harris Morgan Maypother, better known as Noh, is a strange little girl who likes her time to herself; her inquisitive and investigative nature makes her wiser beyond her years, and it seems like fate when she ends up visiting and staying with her aunt who works at the gothic and enchanting New Newbridge Academy. Noh arrives early before the start of school where there are only teachers and no students yet to walk its high, echoing halls. But this is a dream come true to her: a giant empty school, like an ancient castle, asking to be explored, filled with mysteries and enigmas.

And then there's the West Wing, which mysteriously burned down. As Noh gets to know some of the teachers, she also meets some kids her own age, which shouldn't be possible since classes haven't started yet. It doesn't take Noh long to realize that these kids are actually all ghosts. The really strange thing is that you should only be able to see ghosts if you are one too. And then there's something that seems to be taking the ghosts, making them disappear for good.

Amber Benson seems to have found a perfect niche with Among the Ghosts, using a simple but descriptive and colorful language style that will keep any reader hooked and interested, as well as providing a compelling mystery that serves to compel her protagonist to find out what's going on, as well as force the reader to keep reading until the very last page.

Originally written on October 6 2010 ©Alex C. Telander.

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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OK Idea, Somewhat Disappointing Execution, September 6, 2010

By 

Mary Kate (Wisconsin, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Among the Ghosts (Hardcover)

12-year-old Noh was supposed to spend the summer in the Appalachian Mountains with her father but, at the last minute, he instead sends her off to stay with his sister, Clara. Demonstrating his complete irresponsibility as a parent and human being, he neglected to contact his sister before shipping his daughter off to stay with her and, when Noh arrives at Clara's house, she discovers that her aunt and cousins have gone to the beach for the summer. Not knowing what beach they went to and figuring her father cannot be reached (no cell phones in this story) Noh takes the night train to Newbridge, where her Aunt Sarah works as a teacher of English literature at a local school, New Newbridge Academy. As she walks from the train station to the school, Noh cuts through a cemetery where an old woman suddenly appears, screams at her, throws a rock at her and just as quickly disappears. Noh picks the stone up, likes the "evil eye" carving on it and tucks it into her pocket. The stone, it seems, enhances the special powers Noh has always unknowingly had. Once she arrives at the gothic boarding school, New Newbridge Academy, Noh discovers that she has the ability to see and communicate with ghosts.

As a set up, it's not bad - not particularly original, but with possibilities. Unfortunately, author Amber Benson never quite tapped into those possibilities and, as a result, failed to drawn me fully into the story.

For me, the biggest problem was the characterizations. Aside from Noh, who was fleshed out to some extent (but who often seemed much younger than her age), none had any depth to speak of, nor were they particularly interesting. Some, in fact, seemed to have no reason to even be in the story, since they contributed nothing. Others appeared, said a few words and were never seen or heard from again. Still others verged on caricature, rather like the oddball characters found in A Series of Unfortunate Events, but sadly without the quirkiness, cleverness and humor Snicket gave his creations. Mostly though, the characters didn't feel like actual people and that made it more difficult for me to care about them.

In addition, some plot points were never explained, others poorly so. Even if Among the Ghosts turns out to be the first in a series (which seems to be suggested by some of the occurrences in the closing scenes), I was left with questions that I felt should have been answered in this volume.

Among the Ghosts was the first book by Amber Benson that I've read. While it didn't turn out to be my cup of tea, her Calliope Reaper-Jones series sounds like it might be worth a look. I plan to check it out.

Notes: Cover art by the wonderfully talented Jason Chan and interior illustrations by Sina Grace.

Other ghost-y type books that are aimed at about the same age group as Among the Ghosts:
Suddenly Supernatural: School Spirit (first in a series) by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos (first in a series) by R.L LaFevers
The Haunting by Margaret Mahy
The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Secret Life of Sparrow Delaney by Suzanne Harper (slightly older target age)