Ghost of Heros Past, by Charles Reid, for Timeslip Tuesday

Before I get the recapitulation of this week's book, I only need to deal that Alyce at At Home With Books has kicked of a Time Travel Reading Challenge!I think my end is to read 52 time travel books in the approaching year, since that's how many Tuesdays there will be.Alyce has a decent list of time travel books in her announcement post, and, just in character any readers of this blog don't know, I have a good number of my retrospect of time travel books here, sorted by time point and age range.

nd now, today's Timeslip Tuesday book:Ghost of Heros Past, by Charles Reid ( Ronsdale Press, 2010, middle grade, 170 pages)Johnny Anders is an average Canadian boy, of the lonely, daydreaming kind.But his life becomes utterly extraordinary when the shade of a soldier begins visiting him at night.This ghost takes Johnny back into the past, showing him scenes from World Wars I and II in which Canadian men and women were present.The moving acts of gallantry he witnesses include those of Bill Chong, risking his life to take military intelligence through the mayhem of south Asia in WW II, a nurse,Joan Bamford Flecher, who refuses to think that the impossible task of bringing hundreds of wounded civilians to safety is impossible, and numerous other gay men and women, some of whom never made it home.These night-time excursions have a sound impression on Johnny, encouraging him to acknowledge that there might be a cause why he's been chosen by the ghost-he, too, has the present to have stories from history become real, through his writing.In the present, his self-confidence, minute to begin with, is bolstered by his growing friendship with a new girl in town.Casey has self-confidence to spare-so often so that she dresses in gungy clothes, wanting to be judged for her character, not by her appearance.She has an involvement in the two world wars herself-her great grandfather fought in both.And when Johnny begins to partake his see with her, it turns out that her great grandfather is one of the heroes whose story Johnny has been observing.She is an eager audience for his stories, who encourages him to research his own talents as a historian.and she becomes more than just a friend.I myself am fascinated by the two world wars, and Reid does a beautiful job telling his stories in absorbing fashion.I was riveted.His introduction of the wars is balanced-he makes a stab at explaining why the Japanese did some of the ugly things they did, instead of just dismissing them as Bad, and he never glorifies or sugar-coats the realities of war.I do wonder, though, why the spook who visits Johnny is set on the two world wars-this is never explained.The ghost himself isn't exactly explained either, but I am comfortable letting that slide-it's fantasy, after all).The early story, of Casey back in actual life, requires often more suspension of disbelief-I don't believe that anyone that confident really exists in any middle school.But it sure would be great if they did, and I enjoyed the growing friendship betwixt the two, even though it also required great abatement of unbelief that Casey would actually come for Johnny.she somehow is attracted to something more than simply the stories he tells, and I was never quite positive that I saw what she did in him!Time travel-wise, this is firm in the didactic camp-Johnny, and the reader, are Being Taught Lessons, and Johnny remains a passive observer throughout.For those like me, who love learning through fiction,this works well.And I mean the book has enough excitement and secret to apply the pursuit of its intended audience of new readers who enjoy historical fiction, although those who don't enjoy historical fiction for the sake of the account might feel it a bit disjointed.In the acknowledgements, Reid states that "the stories of militaryactions are as recorded, either by military archives, or as told by theactual participants in interviews with the author."I wish he'd madethis more obvious, by including more data around this expression ofthe bible in an afterword.I just thinking to appear at the acknowledgements just now, and determination that the writer seems to have really been in contact with Bill Chong, for instance,adds, for me, a layer ofinterest that I think could have been developed in more detail, with pointers on how to get more information.I went poking around online, and found, for instance, this place on Canadian Chinese Veterans, where there's a show of Bill Chong's employment letter (shown at right).Note on age appropriateness:there is about pretty hard core horrible-ness of war described here.People die, and I consider it might disturb younger readers.The growing relationship between the two kids also kicks this up a bit toward the older rate of middle grade (11 to 12 year olds), even though they do no more than exchange a chaste kiss.a rather less favorable review of the word can be found at Quill and Quire, the Canadian book review magazine-and they do produce some valid points.But whatsoever the reason, Ghost of Heroes Past worked for me!Review copy gratefully received from the publisher for Cybils consideration.