A Review: Ghosts on the Coast: A Visit to Savannah and the Low Country

Jane R. Wood is the author of the book Ghosts on the Coast: A Visit to Savannah and the Low Country, a book written for children age 9 to age 14. The book recounts the adventures of the fictional Johnson family, whose members are: Jennifer Johnson, mother; Joey Johnson the oldest son, age 14 in this adventure; Bobby Johnson, second son, age 10 in Ghosts; and Katy Johnson, the lone daughter in Ghosts, who is 5 years of age. In Ghosts on the Coast, the fourth and latest book in the series, Jennifer Johnson educates her children on the history of Savannah, Georgia and the Low Country of South Carolina, near Charleston. However, while the Johnson family explores the history of these areas, inexplicable things occur, ghosts perhaps, which give the history a spark of modern day life. The history this book teaches, along with child-sized doses of Ripley's Believe It or Not moments, makes for the kind of reading material children love and parents dream of finding for their children. Following is my review of Ghosts on the Coast: A Visit to Savannah and the Low Country by Jacksonville, Florida children's fictional history author Jane R. Wood. I hope you will be led to buy the book, perhaps all four books in this series.

Reading A Children's Book:

Since I am grown and have no children, it took 3 readings of this book to mentally get to the age 9 to 14 reader level the book is intended for. Once there, I found a nicely told tale involving the Johnson family and their historical adventure in Savannah, Georgia and the Low Country of South Carolina. The mother is determined her children will see history as a living, breathing, active process important to today's world. The reader will see many excellent black and white photographs of historical places you might wish to visit on your own vacation, as a follow-up to reading Ghosts on the Coast. The photos add a lot to the book's story. Through several unexplainable ghost stories, a reader learns history is important for its mysteries too. This book deserves wide distribution throughout the USA, because Southern history makes up an important part of American History as taught in schools.

Some Mild Criticisms

Drawbacks, if there are any, might be Joey's personality does not strike me as true to his age--14. Mother, Jennifer Johnson, is overly ideal and presents too much of the history. These, and other minor aspects of the book, are things an adult will notice, but I doubt a child will notice or might even find enjoyable. I learned my share of history by reading this book. I consider myself a pretty good history student. A parent, teacher, babysitter or librarian who reads to children, would have no problem enjoying reading this book to children. An adult can enjoy this book without much effort.

Recommendation

I recommend this book to young readers everywhere, to their schools, libraries, parents, and others interested in children's reading and learning. This book and the other books in this series are reasonably priced, considering the content. I have only read Ghosts on the Coast. Owning and reading the entire series (4 books to date) is the best way for a reader to see the characters fully develop. I may get my hands on the other 3 books in this series, so I can view this fascinating fictional family better. I am certain we will be hearing more from the Johnson family.

Order Information

Although it is possible to order this book and the others in the series by going to http://www.amazon.com/ I will suggest you go to the author's website, which is http://www.janewoodbooks.com/ since I believe she offers a discount to schools and libraries. She may also have copies left of the older books in the series, which are priced out of this world on Amazon. Would not hurt to find out. As of the date of this posting, Jane R. Wood is touring the country promoting her latest book. Having met her, I find her delightful and dedicated to making history interesting for children. I am indebted to Jane R. Wood for sharing a damaged copy of Ghosts on the Coast with me, for reading and review purposes, prior to the release of the book on February 2, 2010. At her recent book signing, I bought autographed copies for myself and my nephew. Hope you get to do the same.