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Ghost Letters

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After Gilbert (Gil) Mendelson-Finch is expelled from an exclusive prep school, his career-focused, jet-setting parents send him to live with his grandfather in a sleepy town on the southern Massachusetts shore. While they decide how to discipline him and plan for his future, 14-year-old Gil is "as bored as a bear in a zoo." With no television or computer, Gil and his poet-grandfather play Scrabble for entertainment.

One afternoon, while Gil is beachcombing with Kip --- his grandfather's old and ailing dog --- Gil discovers an ancient bottle floating at the water's edge. The bottle is a dazzling blue and sealed with a cork. Molded on the front of it are the words: "A.K. Jaddoowalla's Finest Indian Gripe Water."

On an impulse, Gil pulls from his pocket a pencil and a library book overdue notice. He scribbles a message on the back, stuffs the paper in the bottle, reseals it with the cork, tosses it in the water and watches it disappear in the waves.

Later, as Gil and Kip head home, Kip follows a stray scent that leads them to the decaying town dump, which the police have declared off-limits. Standing on top of a mound of trash, the dog gives out a high-pitched alarm and stays still, with one paw raised. The aged animal is "quivering with excitement" because of a mysterious scent he has detected.

Kip is pointing at a rusty old mailbox. While Gil tries to retrieve Kip, a black-haired girl with dark brown skin approaches. Nargis, who is Gil's age, has ridden her bike to the dump to investigate the source of the barking dog. Together, Nargis and Gil decide to find out what's inside the mailbox. What they discover both repels and entrances them --- a skeleton's hand, cut off at the wrist, and smelling "like a combination of lilacs and rancid cheese."

Alarmed, they race home to tell Gil's grandfather, who is skeptical at first but decides to drive back to the dump to check out their story.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world and in another century, Sikander Kahn notices the same brilliant blue bottle sealed with a cork. The apprentice calligrapher spots it floating in a river in India and is curious after he reads the note he finds inside. The message is from Gil, and it is dated more than 100 years in the future. Sikander pens a response and hurls the bottle back into the water.

As the story unfolds --- through Gil's grandfather's tales and the messages in the bottle that crisscross time and space --- Gil learns about a war being waged over tea, a kidnapping plot that threatens the life of a boy, and a lost love letter addressed to one of his ancestors. Gil has the opportunity to help save a life, prevent a war and reunite two lovers. But is he up to the challenge?

Stephen Alter's creative plot, engaging characters, unusual settings and gentle lessons about second chances and self-discovery make GHOST LETTERS a refreshing novel for middle-grade readers who enjoy out-of-the-ordinary books.

--- Reviewed by Donna Volkenannt

After being expelled from McCauley Prep School, Gil's parents send him to live with his poet grandfather in a small, oceanside town in Massachusetts. While exploring the beach one afternoon, Gil finds a blue bottle bobbing on the ocean waves, and, on a whim, writes a note that reads, "Help! I'm stranded on a desert island. Save me!" He puts the note in the bottle, sends it back to the sea, and thinks nothing else of it.

A hundred years earlier, a young calligrapher's apprentice in Ajeebgarh, India, finds the bottle floating in the Magor River...with Gil's message inside! He decides to send back a reply, and the two begin a strange correspondence.

As Gil's grandfather teaches him about the history of their home and the ancestor who built it, Gil befriends a girl named Nargis. The two bond over the eerie appearances of a ghostly hand and letters that were never delivered to their original destinations. Meanwhile, war with the British threatens Ajeebgarh, and Sikander, the apprentice, is desperate to find a way to save his friend, who was kidnapped by British soldiers. Through the help of the mysterious hand, a roving ghost postman, and an English genie sealed in a letter for a hundred years, Gil must find a way to deliver the lost letters and stop the war.

Readers who enjoyed Louis Sachar's HOLES will find a similar format here, with the story hopping between two different time periods and clues scattered throughout. A great read with just the right amount of creepy chill to go with it.

Reviewed by: Allison Fraclose