The Presence: A Ghost Story (Hardcover)

by Eve Bunting (Author) "The ghost stood on the church stairs, watching, waiting for Catherine..." (more)
Key Phrases: banty hen, choir room, Donna Cuesta, The Nutcracker, Collin Miller (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Grade 6-10-Seventeen-year-old Catherine, seriously depressed after a tragic accident in which she was injured and her closest friend died, is visiting her grandmother in Pasadena, CA. She is hopeful that the peace of Grandma's beloved St. Matthew's Church will help rest her tortured mind, but they are both unaware that an evil presence lives in the basement of the church-one of the undead who intends to claim Catherine as his own. Although the teen is intrigued and hopeful that the handsome stranger who appears only to her really can help her channel the dead, she is repulsed by the coldness of the air surrounding him and his icy touch. Warning bells in her mind intensify as an elderly woman warns her to stay away and she learns that a number of girls have disappeared from town over the years, and they all looked very much like her. Is this ghostly stranger real, or is Catherine having a complete nervous breakdown? Bunting, long a favorite of teen thrill seekers, has produced another winner in this well-written story of acute loneliness, alienation, romance, the occult, hope, and tragedy. Fans of the genre will surely pass it from friend to friend, and it's a natural for reluctant readers.
Susan Riley, Mount Kisco Public Library, NY
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 6-10. Seventeen-year-old Catherine is visiting her grandmother in Pasadena, where everyone hopes she will recover from the shock and guilt over a friend's death in an auto accident. Enter Noah, aka "the Presence." As readers learn from alternating chapters, in the voices of Noah and Catherine, this handsome young man tempts Catherine by telling her he has made contact with her deceased friend. She thinks he is a psychic, but readers quickly learn he is a ghost, one with a history of luring girls who look remarkably like Catherine to his room in a church and killing them. This is fine for what it is, a chilling little ghost story, handily turned by a veteran writer. Despite Bunting's skill, however, don't look too closely; there are coincidences galore. Catherine, who at one point laughs at characters in thrillers who open a door when they know they shouldn't, does exactly that. The climax, in which Noah returns to life only to die again, is too brief to be satisfying, but there's a hint of a sequel. Not everyone thinks he's dead. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Clarion Books (September 22, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618269193
• ISBN-13: 978-0618269198
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #843,163 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very pleasant surprise..... :), September 13, 2004

By	Liolania "In2Jesus" (Hippyville USA) - See all my reviews

Every now and then, while I am at the library, I will pick a random book out to read, and sometimes they turn out to be great books, sometimes they suck. But luckily enough, when I picked "The Presence" by Eve Bunting, I picked right.

I am a sucker for ghost stories, so right off the bat, I had to pick this, but that didn't mean I expected it to be good, nope. Exactly the opposite, I thought it would be quite bad, quite ordinary. But it is not.

The Presence is one of those rare stories that tells the tale of not only how one girl copes with loss, but how many cope with loss. And it does it well, this is the second book I have read recently on this issues, the other being "Pop Princess", but out of the two, I would have to say that this one is better. For a few reasons: 1. the humans are'nt walking cliches. The people are quite real, everything seems quite real, while keeping a somwhat surreal atmosphere. 2. The author doesn't fall into the same traps as Rachel Cohn, despite uses the same basic story, except in a different setting. The character in this is coping in a different way, but she comes off as very likeable, unlike the lead in "Pop Princess".

Now, I know, you're probably going, "Geez, you must've hated that book!", actually, I loved it, but I think that it didn't succeed on the same level as The Presence. The Presence really captures Catherine's pain, by slowly revealing it to us throughout the novel instead of telling us right off the bat. It has an air of mystery too it, also because of the ghost she encounters, Noah, he is very mysterious, and his past is revealed slowly as well, keeping us wondering exactly why he is this way, until the end. :)

The book doesn't end in a snug package, but it does end nicely. It didn't feel contrived, or unnatural, I liked the way it ended, because it shows us a little more than some novels show, but also a little less at the same time. :)

Anyways, I know I haven't been overly descriptive, but I think it is best to leave you wondering, this book unravels its tale slowly, but it keeps you reading till the very end. And that is why I cannot reveal more without guilt, it just wouldn't be right. :D

God Bless & *enjoy* ~Amy

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Book... READ IT!!, April 30, 2004

A Kid's Review

The book Presence by Eve Bunting is such a great book. I just kept on reading and reading it without putting it down. That's why I finished the book in 3 days. The way Eve Bunting describes the story is just remarkable! I could just picture the sequence of events in my head. My favorite part was when Catherine started to see all those girls that looked like her. She was so shocked. And I would be too if I saw all these girls that had almost the exact face as me. I would recommend this book to anyone especially 12 years and up. This book is great!

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Original Ghost Story, November 25, 2008

A Kid's Review

After the tragic death of her best friend Kirsty, seventeen-year-old Catherine goes to stay with her grandma in Pasadena, California. She hopes that this will help her recover her tortured mind.
While visiting, Catherine meets a handsome stranger who claims he can channel the dead. He says she can get her in touch with to Kirsty. Frightened by his icy touch, but drawn in by the thought of relieving her guilt, Catherine sets off to meet him at the Saint Mathew's Church. Then she questions Noah's truth. Why can no one else see him? Why can't he leave the church? Why is the air always so cold when she's near him? And most importantly, is he real?
When old Dottie Lovelace gives her a warning, Catherine doesn't know if she should trust Noah. What exactly does he want from her? How does she know that what Dottie's diary says is true? How could Noah have been the same age then as he is now? Catherine notices that all the other girls that seem to have known him look like her, and they all disappeared mysteriously after meeting him. How can she save herself before she falls into his trap? How do you get rid of something that has already died?
Full of mysteries, The Presence is a thrilling book that you can't get your nose out of! A wonderful book that is guaranteed to send chills down everyone's spine!