Wright, B.R. (1987). Christina's Ghost. New York: Scholastic, Inc.
Christina's Ghost is a Bluebonnet Award Winner from 1987.
Exposition: The story is about a young girl named Christina who has to spend the summer with her uncle in a large mansion on a lake in the back woods of Wisconsin.
Conflict: Christina doesn't think that her Uncle Ralph likes her and believes it even less when he thinks she is making too much noise. She is confronted by a small ghost and has a hard time telling her uncle about it.
Rising Action: Aside from the small ghost, Christina begins hearing noises in the attic that has her quaking in her bed at night. At first she can hear the noise but Uncle Ralph doesn't hear them. She finds out that the house was the scene of a double murder. The young boy, Russell Charles, and his tutor, Thomas Dixon, were murdered by cohorts of Dixon's who felt they were doublecrossed over the theft of some rare stamps.
Falling Action: Russell shows Christina that they are in a comic book in the living room. Dixon's ghost is after them.
Resolution: They get in the car to take the stamps to the authorities. Once they leave the perimeter of the property, the ghost disappears from their sight. When they return to the house the ghosts are gone.
The book is listed on the Bluebonnet Award List. Bluebonnet Awards are given to books voted on by students in Texas classrooms. The award was started in 1979 to encourage students to read more books and this gave them an incentive to be able to vote for their favorite book.
Literary Elements:
- Imagery - Description of noises makes you feel you are there.
- Dramatic Irony - The ghost of Russell Charles seems to be trying to tell her something.
- Point of View - Third person limited omniescent - We only know what Christina is thinking.
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