Customer Reviews

Ghost Train

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

Compared to some of Jess Mowry's other books about life for kids in the hood, Ghost Train is a tamer kind of story, but still cool. It's about two kids involved in a haunting. On his first night in his new home in Oakland after arriving from Haiti, Remi DuMont is haunted by a railroad train that chugs toward his window and then veers into a curve to a shipyard that doesn't exist during the day. Remi and his new friend Niya Bedford find themselves with a mystery to solve--a mystery that dates back to World War II and two men on a train one night, long ago. There is a lot of action in this book, and also a lot of knowledge. It's a good reminder that black people have contributed a lot to America but don't get recognized for it.