Breathe: A Ghost Story

By Cliff McNish

Jack is not a normal boy. He can talk to ghosts. In his new home, an aging farmhouse, he meets the Ghost Mother, a grief-stricken spirit who becomes very attached to him…too attached. He learns that the Ghost Mother is preying in the cruelest imaginable way on four child ghosts who are trapped in the house, stealing their energy to sustain her own. Before Jack can figure out how to help them, the Ghost Mother takes possession of his real mother’s body. Jack wants to fight back, but he has severe asthma and risks fatal attacks with any physical exertion. It will take all his resources, and his mother’s as well, to fight off the Ghost Mother and save the ghost children from a horrible fate.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lerner Publishing
• Release date: Aug 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9780761382744

Cliff McNish

Written when he was almost forty, Cliff McNish's Doomspell Trilogy won him an instant and avid readership and has been published in 19 languages around the world. Since then, he has continued to write fiction, including The Silver Sequence, Breathe, and Angel, and has been hailed as a "great new voice in writing for children" (The Bookseller). Mr. McNish was born in northeastern England. He enjoys playing golf, walking up mountains, and eating as much hot and spicy food as possible. He is married and has a teenage daughter, whose demand for a scary story led to the idea for his first book.

Reviews for Breathe

[nickelini · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm always on the lookout for a good ghost story--one full of atmosphere and creepyness, and that isn't stupid. Because well-written ghost stories are hard to find, Breathe: a Ghost Story was a pleasant surprise, especially since it's a novel written for children.Jack and his mother Sarah arrive at an old farmhouse they've leased in the English countryside where they have come to grieve and regroup after the sudden death of Jack's father (side note: I guess because it's a kid's book we don't see Sarah's pain over the loss of her husband? Odd.) In the beginning of the book, Jack reminds me of the little boy in the movie the Sixth Sense because he sees dead people--well, ghosts, actually. And this farmhouse has five--four children who died at different points over a forty year time span, plus a woman from the Victorian era whose daughter died from consumption in the garden. At first the Ghost Mother (as they call her) seems nice, but you soon learn that she is a little on the obsessive crazy side, and terrorizes the other ghosts as a result. She soon begins to terrorize Jack and Sarah too.There are a lot of things I liked about Breathe: a Ghost Story. First, although it is written for children, it read like a book for any age reader (trust me, this is a rare and wonderful thing). The story was unique from start to finish--I soon got to know Jack and stopped imagining him as Haley Joel Osment. There were several twists that I didn't expect, and it was never predictable. The ghosts weren't the creepiest, but the whole logic and worldbuilding around them was both solid and inventive. Also, Jack has severe asthma, and McNish incorporates that effectively into the story. Finally, the chapter headings had cool illustrations. Overall, this is a terrific book.

[lindap69 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I am not one to pick up a book about ghosts, but when I did this was one I could not put down. Jack can see and hear the ghosts that live in the old house he and his mother have just moved into and they are more dangerous than friendly - fast action, nice twisty plot.

[scoutj_3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not bad...rather inventive concept, believable, just a little slow in the middle...

[partaygirl13 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a fantastic book! It was really interesting an had you on your toes.

[akingzett16 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

SCARY yet exciting. Makes you wish you will never pass. VERY VERY ACTION PACKED!!!!!!

[sandystiles · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book once I got to the second chapter, so kids need to be encouraged to do that. The story centers on Jack, a boy of 12 (I think) who has the ability to sense the history of objects around him and soon finds that he can also see and speak to ghosts. This book has an interesting take on what happens when you die and are not taked by your loved ones to a better place: you go to the Nightmare Passage. Scary stuff, but the ending wrapped it all up nicely. JAck is able to save the ghost children he has gotten to know by helping the loved ones retrieve the souls they want from this awful place.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Breathe by Cliff McNish is a children’s story dealing with a young asthmatic boy, Jack, and his mother who move to an old farmhouse after the death of his father. Instead of peace and quiet, they find they are living in a haunted house. There are four children’s spirits and one of a woman who is called the Ghost Mother. It turns out that the woman spirit is keeping the others as prisoners, she feeds on their souls in order to keep herself strong. The Ghost Mother has plans for both Jack and his mother, but Jack is a special boy with the ability to communicate with those from the Other World. He soon realizes that he must be the one to save not only himself and his mother but the other spirits as wellObviously the target audience for this book is much younger than I and so what I mostly found silly might appeal to younger children. With the lack of depth to the plot and the ending that felt too convenient and contrived Breathe: A Ghost Story appears to be more focused on offering life lessons than serving up the chills that I was looking for.