Ghost Knight is cute and fun; a great story for both girls and boys
with just the right mix of humour, genuine thrills and a positive message. Jon
moves to boarding school and finds himself the victim of a band of ghosts intent
on killing him for revenge, because they have a long history with Jon’s family
lineage. With the help of his new best friend Ella, and the ghost of a noble
knight with a debt to fulfil, Jon fights back and learns courage and humility
in the process.
Fabulous settings –
a boarding school, old cathedrals, haunted moors – this is the stuff adventure
stories are made of! All of it is based, of course, on real places and people –
Salisbury Cathedral in England, the knight William Longspee, and numerous other
references dotted throughout. You can tell Funke loves the material she is
working with, and is also having great fun with it. This is fabulous because it
helps the book steer away from being a dry history lesson masquerading as a
story. Ghost Knight is genuinely
quite creepy and your heart will pound right along with Jon and Ella as they
race from place to place, trying to stay one step ahead of the ghastly spirits.
Ghost Knight has plenty of funny moments – a lot of it silly, and a
lot of it coming from Jon’s distaste of his mum’s new boyfriend, ‘The Beard’.
This is humour that never tries too hard and is quite charming, and Jon’s dry
asides help to alleviate the more thrilling moments so that younger children
will not get scared.
The two central
characters – Jon and Ella – are wonderful, and their relationship at that exact
age I love – where they go from the ‘I Hate Boys/Girls’ stage to realising
there might actually be some attraction there. Jon does have a little crush on
Ella but the two form a lovely friendship and a strong bond. Ella has a bit of
Hermione in her, and Jon just a touch of Ron, but together they are a great
team and it is nice to see this in children’s books. Peripheral characters are
strong too, whether they are human or otherwise – well-rounded and lacking
‘cariacture’ qualities.
Most of all I love
how this book is presented – it is a gorgeous little volume and the black and
white illustrations are some of the best I’ve seen in a children’s book –
gorgeous, informative, and totally enhancing the story. I found Ghost Knight to be a real winner and
would recommend it whole-heartedly to the 8-11 age group.
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