Ghost Ship (Paula Wiseman Books) [Hardcover]

Mary Higgins Clark (Author), Wendell Minor (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 3, 2007 | Age Level: 6 and up | Series: Paula Wiseman Books

"I am so pleased to have written my first children's book and to have my dear friend Wendell Minor illustrate it. I thought it would be a daunting project, but with six grandchildren and eleven stepgrandchildren, I've been telling stories to children for a long time."

-- Mary Higgins Clark

Thomas loved his summer visits to his grandmother's on Cape Cod. He spent hours wondering about the sailing ships of the past and imagining their stories. He dreamed of being on a sailing ship himself. One afternoon after a night of terrible thunderstorms, Thomas finds, deep in the sand, a weathered, old-fashioned belt buckle. When he picks it up, a boy his own age, Silas Rich, who was a cabin boy on a ship called the Monomoy that sailed almost 250 years ago, appears. Suddenly the world of sailing ships is very near as Silas tells his tale.

Beloved and bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark tells a story of mystery and adventure that will transport readers to a time and place beyond their imaginings in her first book for children. Wendell Minor's inspired paintings make a time long ago very real.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1–3—While at his grandmother's Cape Cod home, Thomas finds an old belt buckle on the beach. He is then visited by a vision of a child named Silas, who once served as cabin boy to the very sea captain who owned the house. Silas tells Thomas how he and the other local boys once saved the captain's ship from mooncussers—villains who trick sailors by putting lanterns out on the beach to lead ships into shallow water and then steal their cargo. Silas and his friends set fire to the long stairs to the captain's house, so that he saw the house's outline and realized that he had been misled by the lanterns. Though the plot elements would seem thrilling enough-villainy, adventure, heroism—the telling of the story is wordy and meandering. Minor's paintings are atmospheric and fetching, but overall this book will appeal more to adults than to kids.—Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MD
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In her first children's book, a popular writer of adult thrillers and a familiar illustrator pair up to create a picture book that blends past and present. While visiting his grandmother in a 300-year-old house built by Andrew Hallett, a great sea captain, nine-year-old Thomas loves hearing the exciting stories of sailing ships that were sometimes wrecked on the rocks. One day after a heavy storm he finds an old belt buckle on the beach, and the ghost of Silas, the boy who owned the buckle in 1690, appears. Silas, who was Hallett's cabin boy, explains how he used a raging fire to save the captain's ship from the local mooncussers (thieves). The scenarios with the boys and Grandma are too idyllic, and kids may wonder how the fire was put out. The time-travel scenario is intriguing, however, as are the heroics, and children will like Minor's sturdy, richly colored artwork, which depicts raging fires, ghosts, and sun-dappled beaches with equal facility. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books; First edition. edition (April 3, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416935142
• ISBN-13: 978-1416935148
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 10.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #805,392 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

If I were to define myself in one sentence, I would say, "I'm a nice Irish Catholic girl from the Bronx."

I was a Christmas Eve baby all those years ago, the second of the three children of Nora and Luke Higgins. Mother was pushing forty when they married and my father was forty-two. My older brother was named Joseph. Nineteen months later I, Mary, was born. Three and a half years later, my little brother, John, came along.

We lived in a very nice section of the Bronx on a street off Pelham Parkway. I loved our house. I still love it. After my father died, when I was eleven, my mother had to sell it.

I went to Saint Francis Xavier Grammar School. Two years ago I went back and was Principal for a Day. Escorted by two of the tiniest children, I was led into the auditorium while the whole student body sang "Hello Mary. You're back where you belong." I still tear up thinking about it.

I was awarded a scholarship to Villa Maria Academy which is in the Pelham Bay section of the Bronx, otherwise I couldn't have afforded to set foot in it.

I went to Woods Secretarial School and at eighteen had my first full-time job as Secretary to the creative director of Remington Rand's in-house advertising agency. If I were making that choice now I would have gone to college even though God knows we needed the income. On the other hand the three years I spent in Remington Rand was a tutorial in advertising which served me well when I was widowed with five small children. Another plus was that I left Remington to be a flight stewardess with Pan American Airways and when my contemporaries were seniors in college, I was flying to Europe, Africa and Asia.

Warren Clark and I were married on December 26, 1949 and had five children in the next eight years; Marilyn, Warren, David, Carol and Patricia. Warren died of a heart attack in 1964. The highest compliment I can pay my kids are that they are like him.

I sold my first short story when I was twenty-eight. It was alled 'Stowaway'. It had been rejected forty times before a magazine in Chicago bought it for one hundred dollars.

My first book was about George Washington. It was published in 1969 and disappeared without a trace. Three years ago Simon and Schuster co-published it with the Mount Vernon Historical Society and retitled 'Mount Vernon Love Story', it became a bestseller.

My first suspense novel 'Where Are the Children' was bought in 1974 for three thousand dollars by Simon and Schuster. Thirty-three books later, I'm still with S&S.

Time to wind up - at least for the present. As soon as I sold 'Children' I enrolled in Fordham College. Went there for five years at night and earned a B.A. in Philosophy. Summa cum laude, if you please.

I never thought I'd marry again but ten years ago I threw a cocktail party on St. Patrick's day. My daughter, Pat, urged me to invite John Conheeney. Her opening words about him were, "Have I got a hunk for you!" He came to the party and we were married eight months later.

I'm Honorary Chairman of FraXa Research. My grandson, David, has the Fragile X syndrome, which is the second leading cause of retardation after Downs Syndrome. Basically the brain of the people who have it can't send out the proper signals because there's a kind of short circuit in the synapses that carry the signals. We raise money for research with the goal of finding a medication that will work around that short circuit. I go all over the country to the fund-raisers as new chapters of FraXa are opened.

I'm always asked to name my favorite book. They're ALL my favorites. If there is one book that is very special to me, it is my memoir 'Kitchen Privileges' because writing it made me relive my early life including those first struggles to become a writer. I think 'Kitchen Privileges' is both tender and funny and it's me.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Enjoyable Cape Cod Ghost Stoy, April 11, 2007

By 

R. Silva "Rick Silva" (Cape Cod MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ghost Ship (Paula Wiseman Books) (Hardcover)

Mary Higgins Clark, writing her first children's book, weaves a tale from the folklore of Cape Cod. Thomas, young boy who loves to hear stories of the old sailing ships, is visiting his grandmother's home on the Cape when he discovers a belt buckle washed up on the beach. The buckle conjures the ghost of a cabin boy who tells Thomas a tale of a plot against one of the Cape Cod sea captains. The story is a rousing adventure infused with a nautical feel, and a heroic climax. Illustrator Wendell Minor does gorgeous work here, and his visuals set the scene and become an integral part of the story, especially once the action gets going. He does a very nice subtle portrait of the ghost-boy, and his seascapes capture the Cape Cod dunes and harbors with an authentic feel. The prose is a little bit dry in the opening of the story, but it smoothes out once it finds its momentum. As a boy I always loved stories of sailors and pirates, and I think this is a story children will find appealing. And for those kids and parents with a connection to New England, there are some great bits of local history and geography in this story.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Children's book, May 12, 2007

By 

Cindy J. Smith "mysteries ink" (Bethany, OK United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ghost Ship (Paula Wiseman Books) (Hardcover)

I have be a fan of this author for years. This book surpassed all my expectations. What superb fiction for young readers! As always she uses her talent to spark the imagination without all the violence and gunplay of the modern world. I look forward to sharing the next with my children, too!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another hit for Mary Higgins Clark!, May 21, 2007

By 

Gramma Linda (NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ghost Ship (Paula Wiseman Books) (Hardcover)

Mary Higgins Clark is a wonderful storyteller and it is very evident with this children's book. Being an avid fan, I purchased the book to pass on to my granddaughter when she gets a little older. The illustrations are beautiful too. It will be a pleasure to introduce my granddaughter to Mary Higgins Clark, through her children's books!!