Ghost Ship

A contemporary, wholly original, spine-tingling ghost story born from pirate legend--think Pirates of the Caribbean meets Nancy Drew!Vicki plans to spend her summer vacation waitressing at her father's seaside restaurant, Ye Olde Seashell Room, a must-see tourist destination with seashell-covered walls and a two-hundred-and-thirty-year old figurehead from a lost ship, the Storm Goddess.But when the bay goes dry and the Storm Goddess suddenly appears, Vicki and her small community are thrown off course. Now the town's greedy mayor sees dollar signs from potential new tourism, a nosy reporter smells something fishy, and Vicki's haunted by ghosts! Can she, along with her friend Peter, manage to get aboard and (continued)

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8–In 1772, onboard the Storm Goddess, a horrible injustice was committed. Men were killed, gold was stolen, and the crew was cursed. Now, 230 years later, 12-year-old Vicki has discovered a secret hidden inside the ship's figurehead, which hangs in her father's restaurant, and the quartermaster's journal has been found and read. Unexplainable things begin to happen–the sea leaves the bay and the fully restored ship appears on the mudflats. Vicki and her friend Peter must defy dangerous odds in order to sneak on board the Storm Goddess and try to somehow break its curse. Reiche (I, Freddy [Scholastic, 2003]) has entered new ground with this traditional ghost story. Some story elements are reminiscent of the film Pirates of the Caribbean, including the atmosphere. Vicki and Peter are fairly stereotypical characters, and several plot progressions depend on sixth-sense movements by the characters. The adults (and Peter), who know what Vicki is up to and the danger she's in, are concerned but stay out of her way. The neat conclusion ties up all the loose ends. Libraries with patrons who love pirate stories and ghosts should probably pick up this plot-driven title, as it will be read.–Melissa Moore, Union University Library, Jackson, TN Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 5-8. A summer job waiting tables at her father's seaside restaurant, Ye Olde Seashell Room, gets more interesting for 12-year-old Vicki when a mystery brews surrounding an old sailing ship and missing gold. The figurehead of the Storm Goddess, a local ship from 230 years ago, hangs on the wall of the restaurant. When it is taken down for restoration, Vicki discovers a hidden secret, and she and a vacationing boy named Peter become involved in a suspenseful adventure. The water in the bay dries up, the long lost ship appears in the mudflats, and Vicki's ancestor, the ship's quartermaster, repeatedly wages a ghostly battle on deck until Vicki puts all the pieces of the mystery together. The pompous mayor, the tenacious journalist, and other secondary characters are stock, and the translation suffers from pedestrian dialogue and lots of cliches. Even so, teens intrigued with the idea of an old pirate ship, a budding romance, and the lure of gold doubloons will gladly come aboard. Cindy DobrezCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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