Breathe: A ghost story

1. Author: Cliff McNish By: Alicia Barton Breathe: A ghost story

2. Getting To Know The Characters • Jack : Jack just moved to a really old house after his dad died. He has a special “ sense “, and can tell when there is a ghost around, and how they died. He’s only 12 years old, but he isn’t afraid of anything. • Sarah : Jack’s mother. She is always worrying about him because of his really bad asthma, and doesn’t want to lose another very important person in her life. She is constantly working hard to make sure Jack is in a safe environment. She is a really good mom. • Ghost Mother: The Ghost Mother wants to have another child, because hers died many years ago. She makes Jack love her, but he really doesn’t. He’s afraid of her. All the Ghost Children are afraid too. She feeds off of them, by eating their souls.

3. Getting To Know The Characters • Ann : She is the wisest, and most caring. She let’s the Ghost Mother eat her soul instead of anyone else’s because she doesn’t want them to get hurt. She is also the first child to go to the Nightmare Passage. • Oliver : He’s the most daring of the group. Oliver is the only one the Ghost Mother hasn’t fed on yet, and doesn’t plan to be for a while. He isn’t so good at keeping the younger children quiet whenever the Ghost Mother’s around, because he’s too impatient. • Charlie : He is afraid of the dark, but doesn’t want Oliver to know, because he wants to try and impress him by acting tough. Charlie and Oliver are really close, and Charlie doesn’t like that Oliver risks his “ life “ all the time for them. • Gwyneth : She is the most afraid, and the one the Ghost Mother likes to feed on the most, because she screams. She and Ann are super close, Ann is like her real sister. She is constantly having to hide from the Ghost Mother because she is way too loud.

4. The Setting • Breath : A Ghost Story takes place in a really old house. Many people have died in the house, and Jack can sense it. Only 5 of the ghost remained though, all the others went on to the Other Side. Jack really likes the house, though. He really likes old things. • They live in a really cold place, where it’s pretty cold all the time, but still in the United States. Jack likes the cold, so his mom let them move there.

5. Some Problems In The Book • Jack has really bad asthma, so if he gets too excited or talks to loud or too much he can have a really bad asthma attack. So he and his mom have to be really careful all the time. • Another problem is that the Ghost Mother tries to take Jack away from his mother, and she tries anything so it can happen. Jack doesn’t really realize this until its almost too late. • The next problem is that the Ghost Mother is going to make all the Ghost Children go to the Nightmare Passage, which is a very bad place for ghosts. So Jack feels like he has to save them somehow, but the Ghost Mother is just so controlling, he can’t figure out how.

6. The Summary • Jack and Sarah move to a really old house with a bunch of ghosts in it. Jack can sense their presence, and starts looking for them. First he meets the Ghost Mother, and at the time she seems really sweet and kind. Then he actually gets to know her, and sees that she is a crazy lunatic. She lost her own daughter, and now she wants a son ( Jack ). So she goes inside his mom’s body and pretends to be her, and Jack soon realizes that it isn’t really his mother. The Ghost Children try to warn him to get out of the house as soon as possible, but he doesn’t listen. He tries to help the Ghost Children get away from the Ghost Mother, and from the Nightmare Passage.

7. Recommendation • I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good ghost story. Breathe: A Ghost Story just makes you want to keep reading. The Author did a very good job writing the book, I would recommend this book to anyone. I give it 5 stars! It made me want to keep reading and reading, and I could really picture what was happening in the story in my mind. I really enjoyed this book.