School Spirits

Rating:
Summary: Gripping, traditional ghost story with a few serious flaws.
Review: "Gripping, traditional ghost story with a few serious flaws." Rating: 7.

TUNNELL, Michael O.: "School Spirits", ISBN #0823413101 -- Review, by "Glenn P.," <[e-mail]>, a 39-year-old collector of kid's books, 08-May-1998.

A *ghost* is usually thought to be the troubled spirit of a person seeking to resolve issues left pending by his death. This is a common theme in Fairy Tales; the Brothers Grimm, for example, have several such ghost stories -- "The Stolen Pennies" is a classic. Even among adults there was the Society for Psychical Research (Groan!) and -- in the 1960's and 70's -- authors such as Hans Holtzer and Sybil Leek, who wrote seriously on the "rescue" of troubled ghosts.

Ghost stories, then, are fiction with a difference: they are fantastic, and yet plausible too. People have been having ghostly encounters for hundreds or even thousands of years; which is why the reader, in meeting such encounters in fiction, will inevitably be troubled by the notion: "Why couldn't it happen to ME?" Surely it is must be this which gives the ghost story so much of its power, so much of its terror!

"School Spirits" is a story with a lot of promise, and a lot of wasted potential. It certainly starts out well enough, as a gripping, if traditional -- even cliched -- ghost story. Not that I mind -- a "traditional" ghost story would almost HAVE to be cliched! The story's main characters are a sixth-grade boy named Patrick (the son of the school principal), his friend Nairen, and the ghost of an eight-year-old boy named Barney, who had died accidentally but quite gruesomely almost eighty years before; Barney needs the children's help in setting his spirit to rest by uncovering his bones. Despite this comfortably trite scenario, the author keeps pretty closely to the known "ghost lore", so that his story manages to remain "plausible" -- and therefore gripping -- despite its formulaic p! lot.

But this book has two HUGE flaws. The first comes about two-thirds into the story. That's when Mr. Tunnell throws everything away: he has Patrick turn into a sort of "quasi-ghost" himself and travel back in time so that he might witness Barney's quite horrible death personally -- an event completely unsupported by any ghost lore I have ever read. So emotionally charged is this scene that you hardly notice -- until afterward -- that the whole feel of the story has been changed. Thanks to the time-travel element, Mr. Tunnell has moved the story out of "plausible occult" and into "pure fantasy". It ceases to be "possible", and instead becomes wholly imaginary -- just ordinary fiction. The story is still enjoyable, but it has lost most of its force and power. In effect, it stops being a Ghost Story, and is reduced to being a story that happens to have a ghost in it. Why, he might as well have thrown in a U.F.O.! What a terrible waste of an otherwise engaging story! And it wasn't necessary: instead of undergoing a "real" transformation and "real" time-travel, surely a simple *dream* or *vision* might have sufficed to give Patrick the information he needed.

The second problem with this book is the conflict between Patrick and his father, Mr. Meeres. Given that Patrick's mother had died five years earlier, this is reasonable enough -- the result, perhaps, of lingering and unresolved grief on both their parts. This mutual tension is not only plausible, but useful to the story, as it gives a good reason for not involving the main adult, puts serious obstacles in the heroes' way, and provides a realistic sub-plot. The big problem is that a *resolution* to this conflict is strongly foreshadowed, yet never happens! Foreshadowed, because Patrick's father clearly tries very hard to "reach out" to his son, and on several occasions makes surprising gestures of magnanimity; because more than once, Patrick is tempted to confide in his father! what's really going on; and because at the story's climax, when Mr. Meeres finally does find out what has been happening, he is clearly unsettled. Too bad Mr. Tunnell never makes any USE of all this! Given how the story turns out, one would think that father and son would at least *discuss* things -- if not their relationship, then at least Patrick's doings! In fact, once the main climax of the story is over, "Dad" is mentioned precisely ONCE, on page 193, and then NEVER AGAIN! Personally, I found this quite unsatisfying.

Lastly, I have credibility problems with all sorts of minor little details. For example, the haunting takes place in a school, and its resolution -- which solves a years-old mystery -- by rights should leave the entire town abuzz for months or years afterward, and media attention focused on Our Heroes for weeks; yet for all the reaction shown afterwards, you'd think such things happened in that town every DAY! Again, at one point, near the end of the book, it is casually mentioned that the room where Barney's skeleton was found will be used as a storeroom... in a school library! I mean, C'MON! An eight-year-old's SKELETON was in there -- who would dare use it? Who would even WANT to??? Ugh! (And there are other inconsistencies, too. For example, where did Barney go to the bathroom? Does Mr. Tunnell think that because his readers are "only kids" none of them would think of this?)

I am genuinely sorry to be so negative, for the irony is that for all its faults I actually enjoyed this story immensely. Perhaps that's why I fuss so much here: because it could be so much better than it is! By far the most promising thing about this book is its ending: an old lady tells Patrick that he has "a strong connection" to "the other side", and urges him to "be careful" -- a lead-in to a sequel if ever I saw one! I sincerely hope Mr. Tunnell takes it, for despite the flaws in this, his first ghost-story, he shows enormous promis! e, and I should very much like to see him continue (and improve) in this vein!!!

Rating:
Summary: School Spirits is great!
Review: I absolutly love this book because it's a ghost story. In this book a boy named Patrick moves to another town. He finds out there's a ghost that's wanting to talk to him. So, if you are looking for a book filled with mystery, get this one!

Rating:
Summary: School Spirits
Review: I am a fourth grade teacher and often read books so that my students will know a little about the many different titles that are available. When I first started to read School Spirits I could not put it down. I read it from cover to cover not stopping for a moment to rest. I have always loved stories of ghosts and spirits and this one by far is the best for the younger reader. My 10 year old daugher started to read School Spirits at my request and could not put it down either. It is the type of story that draws you in and you can not wait to find out how it ends. This book is in my classroom library and I highly recommend it to all my students!

Rating:
Summary: School Spirits
Review: I am a fourth grade teacher and often read books so that my students will know a little about the many different titles that are available. When I first started to read School Spirits I could not put it down. I read it from cover to cover not stopping for a moment to rest. I have always loved stories of ghosts and spirits and this one by far is the best for the younger reader. My 10 year old daugher started to read School Spirits at my request and could not put it down either. It is the type of story that draws you in and you can not wait to find out how it ends. This book is in my classroom library and I highly recommend it to all my students!

Rating:
Summary: A well-written suspenseful story for early teens.
Review: I read this book as part of a reading program for my library (I'm a librarian at an elementary school). This story is a much better ghost story than others I've read, with excellent descriptions sending chills up my spine. The need to place the story in 1958 is unnessesary, but in general, I rate this book very well done. If you have children who have been hooked on the popular "Goosebumps" series, this book is an excellent next step...

Rating:
Summary: A MUST For Every Library!
Review: This is a review written by two people. One is an elementary school librarian and the other is a 3rd grade teacher.

Bravo to Michael Tunnell! It is a shame that it has taken since 1997 to discover this book.

We feel that this book is a gripping novel. You can't put this one down. Michael's technique of weaving traditional ghost lore and fantasy brings the reader into a situation where anything is possible. That is what makes this book so unpredictable and marvelous!

We hope to see a sequel or perhaps more books from this author in the future.

Thank you Michael O. Tunnell!

Rating:
Summary: A MUST For Every Library!
Review: This is a review written by two people. One is an elementary school librarian and the other is a 3rd grade teacher.

Bravo to Michael Tunnell! It is a shame that it has taken since 1997 to discover this book.

We feel that this book is a gripping novel. You can't put this one down. Michael's technique of weaving traditional ghost lore and fantasy brings the reader into a situation where anything is possible. That is what makes this book so unpredictable and marvelous!

We hope to see a sequel or perhaps more books from this author in the future.

Thank you Michael O. Tunnell!