Ghost Train [Hardcover]

Jess Mowry (Author)

Book Description

"The sound of the train woke him . . . rhythmic panting putts like the breath of some huge jungle beast."

Oakland, California, is a tough place to grow up: kids pack guns at school; crackheads loiter in doorways; even the wrong-colored clothes can get you "a dirt nap." But for thirteen-year-old Remi, who has just arrived from Haiti, the first night brings something even more terrifying: a monstrous, out-of-control train lurches toward his bedroom window--and only Remi can see it.

With the help of his downstairs neighbor, the fast-talking, street-smart Niya, Remi is drawn ever deeper into the mystery of the ghostly night train. Their search leads them back to wartime Oakland, to a shipyard filled with African-American dockworkers and sailors, and, ultimately, to the scene of a murder. Can Remi and Niya find the murderer without becoming trapped in Oakland's past? Or, have they entered a supernatural realm from which there is no escape?

"Remi could hear it gaiing on them. The shriek of its whistle rang in his ears. But there just ahead was the switch. Niya was now a few paces in front of him. Then she was passing the switch. Remi started to believe they would make it home! For all its power, its great pounding pistons, its roaring of fire and spewing of steam, the train could not catch them!

And then Niya fell."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author of the explosive Way Past Cool now takes aim at a younger audience, offering another gritty, keenly perceptive portrait of inner-city life but framing it as a ghostly tale. Haitian immigrant Remi knows that life will be different in Oakland, Calif., where refrigerators, hot running water and TV are taken for granted. But when he and his parents move into an apartment in a ramshackle Victorian house, the last thing the 13-year-old expects is to be haunted by a recurring vision of murder. Every night, while his mother and father sleep, Remi (who has "always had a certain affinity for the supernatural") hears a "fantome" train "panting puffs like the breath of some huge jungle beast." From his window, he witnesses the ghosts of two railroad men, one white and one African American, acting out a deadly scenario. He and his streetwise neighbor, Niya, draw together to uncover an injustice half a century old. Containing more substance than most thrillers for this age group, this horror story is underscored by strong social commentary on poverty, waste and materialism. Ages 9-12.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-9-Old-fashioned suspense coexists with a modern-day setting in this short, easy-to-read, and very successful mystery. On Remi DuMont's first night in his new home, a train thunders past his window and he watches a murder being committed. Remi, 13, is a recent immigrant from Haiti to Oakland, CA. He shares his father's interest in voodun and the supernatural. He soon realizes that the late-night train is a ghost train and the murder reenacted on it nightly actually happened more than 50 years ago. As the boy and his new friend Niya investigate, they put together the pieces of an unsolved crime and an unexplained disappearance. They then step into the past to try to right a long-standing wrong. Niya introduces Remi to the slang and customs of the "hood" while he shares some of his knowledge of Haitian French and family history with her. Their conversations are realistically sprinkled with four-letter words never used by Joe Hardy or Nancy Drew (in English or French) and show an innocent, healthy appreciation of one another's sexuality, but also have moments of righteous indignation at the plight of poor minorities. Social concerns are swept aside as the mystery gains momentum and Remi, Niya, and readers are caught up in a hair-raising, life-and-death struggle with a murderer and with time itself. The ending is surprising and satisfying, but has a tinge of sorrow.
Susan L. Rogers, Chestnut Hill Academy, PA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 164 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); 1st edition (September 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080504440X
• ISBN-13: 978-0805044409
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,365,140 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #59 in Books > Travel > Caribbean > Haiti

More About the Author

Jess Mowry was born to an African American father, and a Caucasian mother. When he was only a few months old, his mother abandoned him. His father took Jess to Oakland, California where he supported himself and his son by working as a crane operator, truck driver, and scrap metal salvager. Jess's father was a voracious reader who introduced his son to books at a very early age. Jess attended public school but despite his love of reading was not an above-average student. He dropped out of school at age thirteen, part way through the eighth grade. After leaving school, Mowry worked with his father in the scrap-iron business, and in his late teens moved to Arizona to work as a truck driver and heavy equipment operator. He also lived and worked in Alaska as an engineer aboard a tugboat and as an aircraft mechanic on Douglas C-47 cargo planes.

Returning to Oakland in the early 1980s, Jess began working with kids at a youth center, reading to them and often making up stories because there were very few books that innercity youth could relate to. Later he began to write stories. In 1988, Jess sent one of his stories to Howard Junker, editor of Zyzzyva magazine in San Francisco. Junker rejected the tale but asked to see more work, and published the second story Jess sent. Mowry bought a 1923 Underwood typewriter for eight dollars and within a year his work was appearing in literary magazines in the United States and abroad.

In 1990, Mowry's first collection of stories, Rats in the Trees, won a PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award. Rats in the Trees was also published in the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan. In 1991, Mowry's first novel, Children Of The Night, was published by Holloway House in Los Angeles. In 1992, his second novel, Way Past Cool, was published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux of New York. Way Past Cool was also published in the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Japan. Way Past Cool was optioned for a film, for which Mowry co-wrote the screenplay. The film, Way Past Cool, was produced by Redeemable Features in 2000 with director Adam Davidson and executive producers Norman Lear and Milos Forman. Other novels followed, including Six Out Seven, Babylon Boyz, Bones Become Flowers, Skeleton Key, Phat Acceptance and Voodu Dawgz.

Mowry's characters and settings range from gun-toting gang kids in Oakland to young Voodoo apprentices in New Orleans' French Quarter, to teenage airplane pilots and child-soldiers in Africa. As Mowry's puts it: "Almost all my stories and books are for and about black kids who are not always cute and cuddly. My characters often spit, sweat and swear, as well as occasionally smoke or drink. Just like their real-world counterparts, some are 'overweight,' may look 'too black,' or are otherwise unacceptable by superficial American values. Like on-the-real kids, they often live in dirty and violent environments, and are forced into sometimes unpleasant lifestyles."

Jess Mowry emerged during the mid- 1990s as one of America's most original and important--yet relatively unheralded black writers. His low profile is as much a matter of personal preference as of any lack of merit or of public interest in his writing. Mowry has declined to take the easy way, refusing to be seduced by fame or money into writing the kind of black ghetto fiction that mainstream publishers seem to want. Instead, Mowry remains socially committed and aware; he prefers doing things his way as he works to improve the lives and self-image of black street kids.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A kickin' ghost and time-travel book!!!, August 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Ghost Train (Hardcover)

This was my first experience in reading a Jess Mowry book and after I finished this one I went out and bought all of the others! I read a lot of ghost stories but this is one of the few with Black characters and settings I could really relate to. But I think that people and kids of any color would love this book if they like supernatural tales. This one has got it ALL! I wish I could give it TEN STARS!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is scary and cool., January 17, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Ghost Train (Hardcover)

This is a cool story about Remi DuMont who is a 13 year old boy from Haiti who has just moved with his mom and dad to Oakland California. On his very first night in tha spooky old house he wakes up after midnight to see a steam train roll by his window like a huge fire breathing monster. There is a lot of noise and smoke but tha next morning he finds out that his mom and dad did not hear anything! Neither did anybody else who lives in tha house. Not the strange old landlady who lives on tha dark and creepy 3rd floor, or tha cool homegirl Niya (also 13) who lives with her mom on tha ground floor. Remi and Niya hookup on their way to school and become friends. Niya has never seen or heard tha ghostly train in tha night even though she and her mom have lived in tha house for years. But she believes that tha house is haunted because she gets creepy feelings from down in tha basement. Niya and Remi get together to try and solve this mystery. They find out that a man was murdered on tha ghost train about 50 years ago. Because Remi is from Haiti and knows about Voodoo he is 'sensitive' to ghosts. Like all of Jess Mowry's books this one is on tha real and very exciting to read. And he drops a lot of information that tells you he knows tha people and things he is writing about. I like tha way so many things in this book are told on tha side, like some of Remi's old life in Haiti as a street kid which makes him feel sorry for poor kids in tha U.S.A. I also like tha way you learn about black history and Voodoo when you read this book. It is also a very 'ghetto' and on tha real story full of on tha real people and kids. The story also makes sense on tha ghost real and tha ending is just right. Even if you never read a ghost story before I think you will like this one. Read it late at night.

5.0 out of 5 stars Posted by Jess Mowry, July 7, 2011

By 

Jess Mowry - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ghost Train (Kindle Edition)

From School Library Journal
Grade 6-9-Old-fashioned suspense coexists with a modern-day setting in this short, easy-to-read, and very successful mystery. On Remi DuMont's first night in his new home, a train thunders past his window and he watches a murder being committed. Remi, 13, is a recent immigrant from Haiti to Oakland, CA. He shares his father's interest in voodun and the supernatural. He soon realizes that the late-night train is a ghost train and the murder reenacted on it nightly actually happened more than 50 years ago. As the boy and his new friend Niya investigate, they put together the pieces of an unsolved crime and an unexplained disappearance. They then step into the past to try to right a long-standing wrong. Niya introduces Remi to the slang and customs of the "hood" while he shares some of his knowledge of Haitian French and family history with her. Their conversations are realistically sprinkled with four-letter words never used by Joe Hardy or Nancy Drew (in English or French) and show an innocent, healthy appreciation of one another's sexuality, but also have moments of righteous indignation at the plight of poor minorities. Social concerns are swept aside as the mystery gains momentum and Remi, Niya, and readers are caught up in a hair-raising, life-and-death struggle with a murderer and with time itself. The ending is surprising and satisfying, but has a tinge of sorrow.
Susan L. Rogers, Chestnut Hill Academy, PA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.