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Book Review: The Snake and the Ghost by Tim Jackson

The Snake and the Ghost by Tim Jackson

HaggusArts Publications, 2016

ISBN-13: 978-0-9968544-0-5

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition

 

The Snake and the Ghost is a self-published picture book about Haggus, a snake who takes a bully’s dare to visit a “haunted” house. The reality is that the “ghosts” are the human residents of the house, who scream and swat at him with a broom. Looking in a mirror, he is terrified by his own reflection, realizes that the “ghosts” must be afraid of him, and decides to try talking to them. He then encounters an actual ghost– the grandmother of the little boy who lives in the house– and she can understand him, and confides in him. Haggus then slips away and paints a picture of the grandmother and the little boy, using his tail. Then he is engulfed in darkness and disappears, as the boy’s father scoops him into a sack. The author ends by reassuring the reader that Haggus does eventually return to his family.

Jackson wrote with the intent of creating a spooky tale of a snake wanting an adventure, and the atmospheric, black and white illustrations, done in charcoal, evoke the immediate reaction from the reader that this is going to be creepy (some of these unfortunately lost some of their impact for me, as Haggus is cartoonishly depicted in comparison to the otherwise muted images). However, the central and most essential part of the story is the conversation between the ghost and the snake. Despite my own quibble with the ability of a snake and a ghost to communicate with each other in spoken English, this is the most genuine and heartfelt part of the book, with the grandmother explaining the humans’ fear of both snakes and ghosts, and sharing her grief with Haggus in a way that makes him look past his own wants to help her reconnect with her grandson. While Jackson may have been aiming for a dark and spooky  adventure story, the way he portrays grief and love in this part of the story is what really touches the reader, and the darkness and shading of the images really bring that out. The adventure is incidental.

While the book has a professional look and terrific illustrations, the author really needed a copy editor. The biggest issue is that there are awkward changes in verb tense, and there are also occasional errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar. While most of these won’t impair understanding for the reader, they bothered me, and the lack of copy editing in a book that otherwise was clearly designed with care is really surprising.

Jackson strikes me as an author with potential, who needs the help of an editor to tighten and present his story. If he puts as much effort into his writing as he does into design and illustration, he’ll do great things. In the meantime, The Snake and the Ghost , with its focus on grief and love, has an immediate use as bibliotherapy for older children and adults dealing with grief, particularly over the death of a family member. It very much reached my own daughter, and I highly recommend it for this purpose. Beyond this audience, at its existing price point as a hardcover (and the Kindle edition can’t possibly reproduce the illustrations with the same impact), this book will mainly have appeal to individuals and libraries in his area, as part of a collection of local authors. With Halloween approaching, local libraries in the Louisville area may want to track down the author for a reading. Appropriate for ages 9 and up.

Highly recommended for bibliotherapy collections on grief.

 

 


Book Review: The Haunting of Sunshine Girl by Paige McKenzie and Alyssa Sheinmel

The Haunting of Sunshine Girl by Paige McKenzie and Alyssa Sheinmel

Weinstein Books, 2015

ISBN-10: 1602862729

ISBN-13: 978-1602862722

 

Sunshine and her mother have left the comfort and warmth of Texas for the damp and chilly world of Washington State, a beautiful if isolated place.  She and her mom have a tight relationship, with little of the typical YA angst. Their relationship is tested and strained when the house turns out to be haunted, and only Sunshine can sense the ghost.

At first, Sunshine is intrigued by the laughter in the attic, but soon things become problematic. The ghost’s mood swings and temper tantrums start to worry Sunshine. Then the ghost sets its sights on her mother. Darkness seeps in, souring everything, and threatening the life of Sunshine’s mother,  who shows increasingly erratic and violent behavior.

The requisite love interest shows up, but in a satisfying twist, has a dark side which may cause Sunshine and her mom more harm than good.

The Haunting of Sunshine Girl originates from an ongoing YouTube webseries created by Paige McKenzie and hosted by The Haunting of Sunshine Girl Network, which has over 200,000 subscribers. With this novel, McKenzie, a teen prodigy, has entered publishing with a platform other authors would kill to have, with the assistance of Alyssa Sheinmel’s adept ghostwriting skills to guide her. The incredible success of the series means that fans already have expectations, and the book has to satisfy both fans of the show and readers who love supernatural fiction who know nothing about it: a difficult challenge. Rather than merely rehashing the plot of the show, McKenzie and Sheinmel’s approach meets the challenge, honing in on the story between the pages, and Sheinmel polishes the book into a slick, enjoyable read.

While this isn’t the most original tale, it is done very well. While common tropes appear frequently, they are twisted and turned in fresh ways. In addition, it’s interesting to see how the transmedia element was pushed front and center, with emphasis on the web series. While the idea is not new anymore, it’s fascinating to see how experiments in multiplatform technology in children’s and YA fiction is are playing out.  This book appears to be the start of a series, and, even without the emphasis on other media, is gripping enough to send readers unfamiliar with the web series on to looking for the next book. 

Reviewed by Dave Simms

Help a Reader Out: A Haunted Boarding School

Amy writes:

I read a book in the early 80’s about some girls who go to a special boarding school for the arts. One girl is a painter, one a writer and one is a musician. At night, they are possessed by the ghosts of famous artists (one is T.S. Eliot) but are unaware of this. They find out the teachers are using them to get more works out of the dead artists. Do you have any idea what book this is? I have no idea of the name or the author.  Thanks.

 
Ooh, I know this one!

It’s Down a Dark Hall by Lois Duncan. One of my favorites!