Golden & Grey (An Unremarkable Boy and a Rather Remarkable Ghost) [Hardcover]

Louise Arnold (Author)

Book Description

Series: Golden & Grey

Grey Arthur is a ghost who hasn't found his place in the world. Tom Golden is a boy who doesn't fit in at school. When Tom and Grey Arthur mutter the same three words, "Life isn't fair," at exactly the same moment, a connection is made between them. Suddenly Grey Arthur knows what he must do: He must become Tom's Invisible Friend.

It seems like such a brilliant idea! Grey Arthur can take teasing signs off Tom's back, make sure he has a pen in class, keep the bullies at bay, and generally take care of everything a best friend would do. He feels a great satisfaction in helping his new friend (despite the fact that Tom doesn't even know he exists), but then everything changes when an accident gives Tom the ability to see Grey Arthur and the rest of the ghost world. Now everyone wants a piece of Tom! Poltergeists, Faintly Reals, Sadness Summoners, Snorgles, Chain Rattlers...they're all lined up for their moment with the famous Tom Golden. Add two confused parents, a kidnapping, and a few embarrassing moments at school, and soon Tom and Grey Arthur are pushed to their limit, leading them to discover what true friendship is all about.

Louise Arnold's fantastic, funny, heartwarming debut novel will have readers laughing out loud and cheering as Grey Arthur and Tom, outcasts in their separate worlds, join forces to turn their luck around.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-7 -A friendless 11-year-old who gets picked on at school meets a ghost without a job. When Grey Arthur decides to become Tom's "Invisible Friend," things change for both of them. For some unexplained reason, the boy can suddenly see all kinds of ghosts and meets quite a few. In the novel's most amusing moments, Arthur describes the assorted ghost types to his new friend. These include Sadness Summoners, Faintly Reals, and several varieties of Poltergeists including Paperwork and Sock Harvesting specialists. When a con man posing as a psychiatrist kidnaps Tom, several of his supernatural friends join forces in the rescue effort. The intersection of ghosts and humans offers some funny moments, but the plot seems contrived as it veers from school problems to kidnapping. Tom is essentially a dull character; he whines frequently, and reacts to events but shows little individual personality. His total trust in the con man stretches credulity, and his parents come off as equally dense in that episode. The villain also veers out of character, foolishly trying to help a cat down from a tree in the midst of his grand evil scheme. Arthur is more fun, but the friendship between ghost and boy is not especially compelling. The inventive world of spirits portrayed here is the humorous draw, but an inconsistent plot and undeveloped characters prevent this from being a top choice in the ghostly humor field.-Steven Engelfried, Beaverton City Library, OR
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 4-6. Misfit ghost Grey Arthur and 11-year-old Tom Golden (a frequent scapegoat of bullies at his new school) share the belief that life is unfair, which somehow magically bonds them together. Arthur becomes Golden's "invisible friend," and Tom develops the ability to see ghosts--which contributes to their friendship but causes problems when some Screamers and a Sadness Summoner frighten Tom. The Goldens consult a child psychiatrist to make things right; unfortunately, the charlatan just wants to use Arthur to win the lottery. Arnold's debut novel gets off to a slow start, but children who stick with the story will be rewarded by a rousing finale that serves up just deserts and involves the efforts of the entire ghostly community. The characters are multidimensional, and Arnold's alternate reality is well thought out: her ghosts are individuals who train for a variety of jobs--among them, poltergeist and chain rattler. Briticisms abound, but that won't deter anyone who has read Harry Potter. Kay Weisman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books (June 28, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689874731
• ISBN-13: 978-0689874734
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,316,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Golden & Grey (An Unremarkable Boy and a Rather Remarkable Ghost) actually evolved from a story I wrote when I was in junior school for a writing competition. It involved a mildly inept ghost called Boo, and his inability to be scary. Fifteen years later, nudged on by a BBC online competition, I dug the story out from the murky recesses of my memory, and ran at it again. The opening paragraph I concocted won, and from there I was contacted by an agent, introduced to a publisher, and my feet haven't really hit the ground since.

I'm currently working on a third book, and for those that are curious, the repetitive life cycle of an author is this:

Stage One: Surround yourself with pens and notebooks, daydream a lot.
Stage Two: Surround yourself with cups of tea, pages of notes, and type it all up.
Stage Three: Surround yourself with highlighter pens and post-it notes, and edit the work.
Stage Four: Go back to Stage One.

So I'm firmly entrenched in Stage One again, leaving a trail of ink stains and doodles in my wake.

I live in Canterbury with my partner Kieran, and our cat, Squeek. When I'm not writing, chances are I'm either watching Neighbours, ordering my cat down from the tree opposite my house, going to car boot sales, or watching a live band down my local pub.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Out of Body Friendship, July 12, 2005

By 

Elinor Teele - See all my reviews

This review is from: Golden & Grey (An Unremarkable Boy and a Rather Remarkable Ghost) (Hardcover)

3 and ½ stars. Louise Arnold's Golden and Grey finds its way to being a rollicking read after an leisurely stroll through exposition. Tom Golden is a boy being relentlessly bullied at his new school. His despair is so great that he comes to the attention of an innocuous young ghost named Grey Arthur, who is searching for his ghostly role in life. Grey Arthur becomes Golden's Invisible Friend and guardian, and eventually introduces Tom to the rest of the ghostly universe. When Tom's ability to see ghosts is taken advantage of, it is up to Arthur and his ghosts to save the day.

Avoiding Potter syndrome when you write a book dealing with ghosts is practically impossible. Arnold has stamped her impression on the nature of ghosts (they don't say "ooooo", they're not dead people, etc.), but she does include a ghostly newspaper (the Daily Tell-Tale), phantoms that suck in light, and a boy who is able to see spirits. Though perhaps unconsciously derivative, the force of Arnold's imagination is able to suppress most parallels in readers' minds.

The warmth of the story comes in the relationship between the two boys, and Arnold's descriptions of bullying and isolation. Tom seems destined to make a fool of himself, which Arnold knows means social death in schoolroom politics. She is also particularly astute on certain small details, like Tom's mother's disgusting leftovers, his father's experimental socks, and the repetitive routine of mornings before school. A stray cliché now and again ("cold fear" and things reaching out like "greedy hands") could have been edited out.

Golden and Grey's pace picks up measurably as the ghosts band together to use their talents against Tom's enemy. The "bad guy" is frighteningly real in a modern context, as is the reaction of Tom's parents to his situation. Descriptions of Tom's plight will have both generations of readers feeling taut inside. This kind of dramatic pull is hard to create, and Arnold deserves credit for achieving it. I look forward to reading her next book, which can hopefully avoid the problems of comparisons with Potter.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Utterly charming!, July 6, 2005

By 

John W. Mccarthy - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Golden & Grey (An Unremarkable Boy and a Rather Remarkable Ghost) (Hardcover)

Louise Arnold's first book is a delightful, charming story. Her main characters are adorable, without ever resorting to cutesy-ness. Comparisons to Harry Potter are inevitable, given that Ms. Arnold previewed this story in an "Are You The Next J.K Rowling?" contest, but this story is completely original and stands firmly on its own two feet.

And now I finally know where all those lost socks went!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The next great children's author, August 25, 2005

By 

Mr. D. Scullion "Dave Scullion" (Cambridge, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Golden & Grey (An Unremarkable Boy and a Rather Remarkable Ghost) (Hardcover)

Rather than harping on about "The next J.K. Rowling" like it's the end of the line for all children's authors, I think Louise Arnold breaks the mould and firmly places herself as a innovative and exciting new children's author. J.K. Rowling has the idiocity of childish love sussed, Phillip Pullman has fantasty wrapped around his fist like a barb-wire glove and Lemony Snickett makes morbid and dark the new fun and light. Louise Arnold gives us something new, and something better. A good sense of humour, an insight into childhood (and the simple traumas coming with it) and all wrapped up in the real world (plus ghosts... who aren't dead people, by the way).
Golden & Grey is a quirky, intelligent and explosively imaginative tale about a young boy who, after an accident, can see ghosts. The ghost he is lucky enough to see is Grey Arthur, a lost creature who never knew what he was until he incorrectly attached himself to Tom Golden, believing he was his invisible friend. As irony has it, after Tom's accident his invisible friend becomes visible to no-one but him. This relationship between the two friends is marvellously played out, but it is the peripheral characters that really make the novel shine.
Too much detail at this stage would be foolish and spoil the fun, but Golden and Grey is full of warm and funny chracters, sinister madmen and a whole new world which you'll be dying to find out more about way after you put the book down.
This book will appeal to all, and really reminds me of the struggles of growing up (minus the ghosts). Bullies, stupid parents and blind-trust - three things everyone can surely relate to.
I recommend this book to anyone and hope to see more from this promising and highly-amusing author.