Ghost of the Southern Belle: A Sea Tale

A young boy must challenge LeNoir, the ghost of a sunken ship's captain, in order to save other ships from being raced to their doom in the stormy seas. 12,500 first printing.

Kindergarten-Grade 4 A rousing ghost story. A bold and crazy sea captain gives a young boy a silver Chinese sphere symbolizing Luck. When the captain's ship crashes on the rocks and sinks, the boy's father won't risk his own vessel to try and rescue the crew. From that day on, the ghost of Captain LeNoir haunts the seas, causing shipwrecks with his ghostly crew and their ship, the Southern Belle. The boy comes up with a plan to stop the haunting, which involves a treacherous sea race and the risky prospect of rescuing the drowning men. His actions free LeNoir and his crew, and as a gift, the boy receives another silver sphere, this one symbolizing Daring. More eerie than scary, Bodkin's rich tale builds to a dramatic climax. The young narrator is an engaging hero who not only comes up with the plan to end the haunting, but also confidently takes command of his father's ship to make sure it succeeds. Fuch's gorgeous oil paintings are just right for this spooky tale. Misty backgrounds, elegant figures, and careful use of light infuse the story with a properly mysterious mood. Both text and illustrations are restrained rather than melodramatic, and the result is a gripping and satisfying tale. Steven Engelfried, Deschutes County Library, Bend, OR
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A sailor's son serves as a bridge between the supernatural and natural worlds in this suspenseful picture book. Master storyteller Bodkin (The Banshee Train) recreates a salt-air ambiance of centuries past as he writes of fearless Captain LeNoir. Sailors who watch him race his fast ship, the Southern Belle, against other ships in the Northern Atlantic consider LeNoir a madman for his daring. But the story's young narrator believes otherwise. In passing, LeNoir tosses the boy a Chinese silver ball said to embody pure luck. Shortly afterward, on All Hallows' Eve, the Southern Belle crashes, and the ghost ship and her crew begin to haunt the seas near the site. Feeling a connection with LeNoir, the boy devises a plan to put the Southern Belle finally to rest. Bodkin's swift, compelling prose immediately draws readers in. His inventive weaving of historic and geographical details into the text helps set the intriguing scene. Readers can nearly feel a bracing sea breeze blowing off of Fuchs's (Ragtime Tumpie) darkly eerie oil paintings. His dramatic, full-page close-ups of the sailors and tall-masted ships, and especially of the ghost of LeNoir, make a powerful impression. Ages 8-12. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Pale mist wafts mysteriously through the pages of this saga of a young boy's quest to appease the spirits of a ghostly captain and his crew. When a boy sees the Southern Belle crash, he recalls the law of the seathat the nearest vessel must help a ship in trouble. When no ship, not even his father's, goes to help, the seas seem haunted for a year by the captain and crew of the Southern Belle; one ship after another goes down. The boy, open-minded about superstitions, convinces his more practical father to allow him help the ghosts of the Southern Belle to their rest. Scenes overlaid with an appearance of fog and dripping with moisture give a tactile feel to a classic tale of a racing boat beaten not by another ship but by a storm at sea. Save this for a rainy afternoon story hour when the lightning flashes and thunder rolls. (Picture book. 8-12) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Fuchs' impressionistic, evocative art is an excellent choice for this rousing nautical ghost story in a picture-book format. From the deck of his father's ship, a child watches as a storm drives the swift schooner Southern Belle on to the rocks one All Hallows' Eve. Down she goes, with her colorful Captain LeNoir and all hands--but no wreckage washes up on the shore. As time goes on, ship after ship sinks in the same spot under mysterious circumstances. Acting on the young narrator's intuition, courageous seamen lay the spectral ship to rest for good with a re-enactment of the original disaster. Full-bleed oil paintings fill the viewer's fields of vision with hazy, translucent shapes of ships and men looming from shimmery, shadowy backgrounds. This tingling sense of otherworldliness is capped by the climactic apparition of Captain LeNoir, eyes aglow like a cat's. Readers will be gripped from the first line to the storm tossed finale--and if they're ready for more, invite them aboard Bodkin's 1995 book Banshee Train. John Peters