Marly's Ghost - Softcover

Levithan, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1405276479 ISBN 13: 9781405276474

Publisher: Electric Monkey, 2015

Synopsis

David Levithan, bestselling author of Every Day, gives Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol a Valentine's remix. When Ben's girlfriend, Marly, dies, he feels his life is over and the prospect of Valentine's Day without her fills him with bitterness. But then Marly arrives - or at least, her ghost does - along with three other spirits. Now Ben must take a journey through Valentines past, present and future - and what he learns will change him forever. David Levithan is master of blending fantasy and romance, and Marly's Ghost has every bit as wonderfully strange and magical as Every Day and Another Day. David is the New York Times best-selling author of Boy Meets Boy and Marly's Ghost. While among his many collaborations are Will Grayson, Will Grayson with Fault in Our Stars author John Green, and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist with Rachel Cohn, which became a major film. David's latest collaboration with Rachel, The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily, was picked by Zoella for her Book Club with WHSmiths. Tiny Cooper from Will Grayson, Will Grayson, now has his own novel: Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story. David is also a highly respected children's book editor, whose list includes many luminaries of children's literature, including Garth Nix, Libba Bray and Suzanne Collins. He lives and works in New York.

About this title

About the Author:

David Levithan won the Lambda Literary Award for his debut novel Boy Meets Boy, but is probably best known for his collaborations with John Green (Will Grayson, Will Grayson) and Rachel Cohn (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, which was also made into a movie). As well as being a New York Times best-selling author, David is also a highly respected children's book editor, whose list includes many luminaries of children's literature, including Garth Nix, Libba Bray and Suzanne Collins. He lives and works in New York.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 7-10–In this modified version of Dickens's A Christmas Carol, Scrooge has been replaced by Ben, a high school student whose girlfriend has passed away, leaving him extremely cynical about love as Valentine's Day approaches. The creatively mutated story follows the basic action of the original as the teen is visited by Marly's ghost, then three spirits: The Ghost of Love Past, The Ghost of Love Present, and...well, you know. While this seems like a promisingly inventive way to address bereavement, nothing quite clicks in this remix of the classic. Prior knowledge of the original story seems to diminish rather than enhance the power of this adaptation. There are downright awkward moments, too. The character Tiny Tim has morphed into a pair of gay freshmen, Tiny and Tim, for example, and the young lovers' presence in the story seems gratuitous and synthetic. Selznick's pen-and-ink drawings, while very well done, don't quite seem to fit in either, reflecting the overall problem the story has establishing and sustaining a uniform tone and mood.–Jeffrey Hastings, Highlander Way Middle School, Howell, MI
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About this edition

• Publisher: Electric Monkey
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1405276479
• ISBN 13: 9781405276474
• Binding: Paperback