Resurrected ghost has his own agenda.

Resurrected ghost has his own agenda.

I sincerely enjoy everything written by Cornelia funk but this book is one of her best. loved it!!!

John Whitcroft, 11, is at war. The only other combatant in his imaginary battle is The Beard, his mother's boyfriend. While his sisters adore The Beard, John makes it his mission to annoy the potential stepfather. In retaliation and exasperation, John's mother ships him off to boarding school in Salisbury, England.

Salisbury is a town with ghost tours and an ancient cathedral that houses many graves. One of those tombs belongs to the Ghost Knight, also known as William Longspee, a noble spirit who has vowed to aid those who need help. And John does indeed need defending, since his mother's bloodline has been cursed by a bloodthirsty ghost and his minions. Longspee battles the evil ghosts in satisfying action scenes several times throughout the book.

John's companion in this adventure is a very pretty, no-nonsense girl named Ella. Zelda, Ella's grandmother, is a professional ghost tour guide; as a result, Ella knows much of the supernatural information that John needs in his quest.

If author Diana Wynne Jones were still alive, I would think that she had ghostwritten this book under Funke's name. This novel has all the same elements of English culture, distant parental figures, and fantastical mystery. While this is not my top pick for the 2013 Newbery Award, I really enjoyed this fast-paced, engrossing read. I will definitely be recommending it to fans of Diana Wynne Jones, Mary Downing Hahn, and Margaret Peterson Haddix.

This is a really enjoyable novel for kids in grade in grade four up. Against his will, Jon Whitfield is sent away to the Salisbury Cathedral choir school attended by his late father. There he finds himself hunted by murderous medieval ghosts who want to kill him because one of his ancestors had them hanged for murder. He befriends the ghost of another knight, the historical William Longspee, who has sworn to help those who call on him in need. Jon also becomes friends with Ella, granddaughter of a witch-like old woman who does ghost-tours and niece of his widowed mother’s fiance, whom he despises. There’s a lot of real scariness and peril for the kids. Though the cover is cartoony, the story is not. These ghosts are deadly dangerous and Longspee, who needs living human help to find his stolen heart and return it to his wife’s spirit, is a moody mentor. At times, Jon and the readers don’t know whether he can be trusted. The climax, with Ella kidnapped by murdered men controlled by Jon’s ghostly enemy, is full of suspense. As well as a good story for kids who have started eagerly reading novels on their own, this would be a good book to read aloud to children eight and up.

Pretty good, but quite different from the stuff of Funke's that I'm used to reading.