Thicker Than Water [Hardcover]

Penelope Farmer (Author), Robert Gantt Steele (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up

When her cousin Will comes to live with her family after his mother's death, Becky, who lives in an English mining town, finds herself caught up in a haunting mystery that involves ghostly weeping and an old mining tragedy.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-- Becky is astonished to learn, accidentally, that her mother had a twin sister. But this dark secret pales when she learns that Will, the woman's now-orphaned son, is coming to live with her family, perhaps permanently. When he arrives, he and his cousin have a long way to go to fulfill Becky's mother's favorite saying, "Blood is thicker than water." Their slowly developing relationship is complicated, though perhaps strengthened, by the presence of a ghostly spirit that pursues Will relentlessly. He is haunted by sounds of weeping and mysterious happenings, and finally by a voice pleading insistently, "Bury me." It turns out that the ghost is that of a young boy killed long ago in a local mining accident. All of this makes for a fairly chilling tale. The story is told in first person, with chapters alternating between Becky and Will. The scary effects are bound up with how the yo people relate to one another as they move from hostility to caring. Both are well-realized characters. The parents are mostly bewildered by what is going on and serve only as part of the backdrop for the action. Will's mother remains a shadowy figure. There are some interesting minor characters in the form of Will and Becky's school friends and foes. The book is reminiscent of David Wiseman's Jeremy Visick (Houghton, 1981). Overall, Farmer's story will capture and hold the interest of readers who are looking for a ghost story with some meat on its bones. However, this is really Becky and Will's book; it's about becoming a family against great odds. --Bruce Anne Shook, Mendenhall Middle School, Greensboro, NC
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

In a subtle exploration of loss, grief, and family ties, Farmer (Charlotte Sometimes, 1969, etc.) incorporates an uneasy ghost yearning for decent burial into an orphaned boy's difficulties adapting to a new home. Becky learns of her mother's twin sister only as Megan is dying of an overdose, leaving a son, Will, Becky's age--a slim, dark boy who has lived in foster care since being abused by one of Megan's boyfriends, and who's never known a father. After coming from London to Becky's family in Derbyshire, Will hears urgent pleas in the night: ``Help me!'' The cries are audible to no one else, though the whole family is troubled by other manifestations--mysterious vandalism, unlocked doors, a Christmas tree that withers overnight. In alternating narratives, Will and Becky reveal a mutual dislike gradually transformed into familial amity seasoned with comfortable bickering; meanwhile, they deduce that the ghost was a laborer- -like Will a neglected child--trapped in a nearby mine. Driven by his own troubled past and the ghost's demands, blamed for his moody unpredictability as well as the ghost's misdeeds, Will decides on a desperately perilous way to free them both. Deftly individualizing even her minor players, Farmer crafts the family dynamics--the competitive twins, the newly acquainted cousins, the contrasting relationships between parents and children--with leisurely care, building toward a splendidly dramatic denouement. Unusually rich and involving. (Fiction. 10-15) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Candlewick (May 3, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564021785
• ISBN-13: 978-1564021786
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,602,791 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars BURY THE DEAD--APPRECIATE THE LIVING, November 3, 1999

By 

Plume45 "kitka12345" (Westchester, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thicker Than Water (Paperback)

Plump and plain Becky deeply resents her cousin, Will, when he suddenly enters both her life and her Derbyshire home. How is she supposed to feel sorry about the death of her mother's never-before-mentioned twin sister? Or feel sympathy for this distinctly foreign-looking cousin dropped into her smugly anti-social world? Both kids are carrying around considerable emotional baggage as it is--too deeply mired in their own problems to help each other. This is a grimly stark YA novel, where a ghost Uses the Living to put closure on the Past.

Why is Will the only one to hear the wailing of a ghost boy--buried alive in a forgotten tunnel of an abandoned mine a century ago? Who is likely to be blamed for a poltergeist's rampage? Neither kid appeals to the reader at first, as they outdo each in being sullen, selfish, uncommunicative, ungrateful, spiteful--deliberately perverse. The adults around them stuggle with anger and frustration. Can a boy from the London slums lay to rest the tormented spirit of another boy, whose mother seemed to desert him too? Family relationships are questioned. Readers must be flexible, as each chapter alternates between the cousins as narrators. A Chilling Tale for middle school kids.

5.0 out of 5 stars The BEST Penelope Farmer title I've read so far, August 14, 2006

By 

octobercountry (the Land of Trees and Heroes) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Thicker Than Water (Paperback)

I should perhaps begin by saying that I have been rather disappointed by every single other Farmer book I've read. While the premise of each of her books is intriguing, I've never felt they lived up to their potential.

But this story was a very pleasant surprise---I thought it was absolutely first-rate. The structure of the book, in alternating he-said/she-said chapters, with each chapter being told in the first person by one or the other of the two main characters, works very well for this story. I particularly felt for Will---poor kid, he had a lot to deal with; he was given some very unfortunate blows by life. And it is easy to see why the wandering spirit of the boy lost in the mines all those years ago latches on to him, as they (in an odd way) share a similar unhappiness, spanning two hundred years. I was totally engrossed in the story, and couldn't wait to see how it turned out. The only drawback to the novel, to my way of thinking, is that I wanted one final chapter as told by Will. The absolute climax of the story---what exactly he sees at the end when he goes after the spirit that has been haunting him---takes place off-stage, as it were. And while I imagine the scene quite clearly in my mind, I wanted to see it on the printed page! Though perhaps that is the point---maybe the author wanted the reader to think it through for themselves. The way I picture it is very vivid, and quite touching....

3.0 out of 5 stars BURY THE DEAD--APPRECIATE THE LIVING, November 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Thicker Than Water (Hardcover)

Plump and plain Becky deeply resents her cousin, Will, when he suddenly enters both her life and home in Derbyshire, Englander. How is she supposed to feel sorry about the death of her mother's never-before-mentioned twin sister? Or feel sympathy for this distinctly foreign-looking cousin who dropped into her smugly anti-social world? Both kids carry around considerable emotional baggage as it is--each too deeply mired in their own problems to reach out to the other. This grim, stark YA novel presents a suffering ghost who uses the living to put closure on the past.

Why is Will the only one to hear the wailing of a ghost boy--buried alive in an abandoned mine shaft a century ago? Who is likely to be blamed for a poltergeist's rampage? Neither kid appeals to the reader at first, as they outdo each other in being sullen, selfish, uncommunicative, ungrateful and deliberately perverse. The adults around them struggle with anger and frustration. Can a boy from the London slums lay to rest the tormented spirit of another boy, whose mother seemed to desert him as well? Family relationships are questioned, as Becky tries to mature. Readers must be flexible, as the chapters alternate between the cousins as egocentric narrators. A Chilling tale for middle school kids.