The Ghost Wore Gray (Bantam Skylark Book) [Paperback]

Bruce Coville (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1988 | Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up | Series: Bantam Skylark Book

"What A Hunk! Too Bad He's  Dead..."



Sixth-grader Nina  Tanleven convinced her architect father to let her  best friend Chris go with them to stay in the old  inn he's restoring. On theafternoon they arrive,  the girls find a faded Civil War photograph of a  very handsome Confederate soldier. Nina and Cris  are stunned when the ghost of the young soldier  suddenly appears at the dinner table that night! They  realize he's the ghost who they've heard haunts the  inn.



When he appears to them  again--no one else can see him--Nina and Chris know that  the ghost is trying to tell them something. But  what? To find out, the girls begin investigating  the old country inn. And soon they are swept up in  a frightening mystery that began more than one  hundred years ago--a mystery involving danger, greed,  a hidden room... and a buried treasure!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8 In this sequel to The Ghost in the Third Row (Bantam, 1987), sixth-grader Nina Tanleven and her friend Chris accompany Nina's architect father to an old inn in the Catskills that is haunted by a Confederate soldier. The two girls are simply curious about why a Southerner who died during the Civil War appears in the halls of a dilapidated hotel in New York State, but someone else is after much more. Bit by bit it becomes clear that the dying Confederate wanted to leave his treasure to the conductor of the Underground Railroad who had tended him. Despite the fantasy element of a ghost, this is a mystery that follows the genre's rules. The ghost provides clues that require deduction to solve, and the villain is hard to spot but obvious once discovered. The Confederate soldier's gradual change of heart is well handled in his journal, and readers' satisfaction at solving the mystery is matched by the sense of justice finally served. The use of the Civil War haunting is similar to Virginia Hamilton's House of Dies Drear (Macmillan, 1968), but this is an easier, more conventional mystery that nevertheless evokes real feeling. Carolyn Caywood, Virginia Beach Public Library
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher

"What A Hunk! Too Bad He's Dead..."

Sixth-grader Nina Tanleven convinced her architect father to let her best friend Chris go with them to stay in the old inn he's restoring. On theafternoon they arrive, the girls find a faded Civil War photograph of a very handsome Confederate soldier. Nina and Cris are stunned when the ghost of the young soldier suddenly appears at the dinner table that night! They realize he's the ghost who they've heard haunts the inn.

When he appears to them again--no one else can see him--Nina and Chris know that the ghost is trying to tell them something. But what? To find out, the girls begin investigating the old country inn. And soon they are swept up in a frightening mystery that began more than one hundred years ago--a mystery involving danger, greed, a hidden room... and a buried treasure!

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Yearling (July 1, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553156101
• ISBN-13: 978-0553156102
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #901,195 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A favorite for years!, July 10, 2001

By 

R. Thomas Klapka (New York, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ghost Wore Gray (Bantam Skylark Book) (Paperback)

I love this book! My mother bought it for me years ago and I read it so many times I wore it out! Now, all grown up, I have re-purchased it to read over and over to my kids! An excellent story, well written, and impressive. Not only a great ghost story, scary enough to keep the older ones interested, but not to scary too frighten the little ones, but amazingly it gives you insight into how the underground railroad was run and the desperate measure and danger they met along the way. If you have some kids that are struggling in subjects like history, this is an excellent way to 'sneak' in some knowledge and get those wheels turning! You won't be disappointed with this book!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PLEASE READ MY REVIEW!, May 23, 2001

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Ghost Wore Gray (Bantam Skylark Book) (Paperback)

I would recommend this book THE GHOST WORE GRAY by:Bruce Coville, to any-body who loves books about adventure and the civil war and also alot about how they let slaves live in their homes . The story is about a girl named Nina aka:Nine,and her best friend Chris, Nina's father is a remodeler for old run down places like hotels and inns. Her father takes a job to remodel an old inn. When the three of them get there they discover that the inn that Nina's father is remodeling is haunted. The name of the inn is called the Quackadoddle Inn, when they find out that other living things are there. They conclude that there is a GHOST! The ghost is a man that was in the war and that is how the story is based on. His name is Captain Jonathan Gray. Then Chris and Nina learn about the civil war and why Captain Gray was staying at the Quackadoddle Inn. But then when they find out how and why Captain Gray died the story turns into a real adventure. The adventure seems so real that it feels like you are almost in the whole story as it goes on.I hope I have helped your opinion on reading and seeing what good of a book this is and how good the adventure can get. To tell you how good this book is, if I could give this book a 10 star rateing I would because that is how good I thought this book was. Thank you for taking your time and reading my very long book review.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Favorite That Stood the Test of Years, May 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ghost Wore Gray (Bantam Skylark Book) (Paperback)

Reflecting on it, I realize that it was this book that engendered the great interest that I now have in the War Between the States. Years ago, I read this book for the first time, and I still do despite the "reading level" on the back. Honestly, if you ask me, ignore it! Those three letters (or letter and a number) "RL5" mean nothing as far as having a great plot, and good characters.

In this book, Coville demonstrates a power to make you believe (while reading) that anything is possible, that perhaps--maybe--ghosts really can and do exist. He also, by well-written diary entries and some well-choreographed appearances, does an incredible job of letting you catch a glimpse of what Captain Gray is (was?) like without saying much of anything at all besides a well-timed Rebel Yell. (Those of you who have read this book know what I mean by this.)

Nina, Chris, and Captain Gray all seem to come alive in this book (I use the term "alive" loosely!). I have to say that it is the best of the three Nina Tanleven books. All three are good, but this one shines very clearly above the rest.