Alexander is a boy that likes history he is waiting for his mom the come but his father thinks that she never will come back and that makes a bad re lationship between him and his father.It’s been three years since his mother walked out on him and his father, but 13-year-old Alexander still hopes for her return—and blames his father bitterly for her departure.The only thing that distracts him from his anger is the ghost he meets while touring a Civil War battlefield.

In The Ghost Soldier, a man and his teenage son visit South Carolina. The son, Alexander, has missed his mother ever since she left years ago and is resentful towards his father for getting a new girlfriend. The ghost of a young boy begins to haunt Alexander when he slips back in time to the Civil War trenches and witnesses the boy’s death. The ghost needs assistance in finding out what befell his family after his death. Alexander reluctantly agrees and they begin searching for the missing recor...

This book is a pretty short book about the adventure of finding a dead soldier and trying to fill into its final wish so he can rest peacefully. The idea is very intriguing, but the execution was anticlimactic. Alexander has a very lousy mother who left and isn’t completely explained of where she went. The relationship that happens with Alexander and the daughter of his dad’s girlfriend —the tension between the family— is never exactly resolved and the ending is kind of cheesy. The main issues t...

Ghost Soldier is a touching story that discusses the changes in a teen boy's life (his divorced father potentially remarrying) and some of the often overlooked hardships of the South during the Civil War (or as Southerners call it the War Between the States). The boy discovers parallels between him moving on from his mother who left him and helping the ghost of a young soldier find his lost family.

In my opinion, a good book goes in many waves between excitment/interest to parts of slow plot building. This book, unfortunately, is only exciting in the very beginning and the very end of the book. There's about 100 pages in the middle that are painfully slow and boring. Even then, the ending of the book was slightly predictable and unoriginal making the book overall feel slightly like a waste of time. The story/plotline as a whole id rate 5/10 bc of its lack of originality and excitement.

Excellent book! I sometimes like to read novels written for teen readers because they’re quick, light reading that I can get through in a few hours. This novel was great for my purposes. It was easy to get immediately involved in the story. I’m glad it was a short read because I would have had a difficult time putting the book down.

It was a good book for teenagers like myself. Alex is a great character and person but I feel bad for him because he does not know where his mom is, so then he has to be with his father. And Alex does not like his father for one, he believes his father made her leave. But when Alex goes to a Civil War battlefield he meets a ghost who fought in the war.

This book was okay. The characters are okay. Nobody’s truly interesting, but they hold up just fine. The story is alright. It never really got super exciting, but it was never really boring either. The pacing is pretty good. Overall, it’s your average, run-of-the-mill book. It’s a short and sweet read for any history lovers.

I really enjoyed reading this book with my child. It included a perspective that I don't often see, and I appreciated the nuance that the author offered about a war that is usually oversimplified. I found Alexander's story about loss and acceptance to also be touching, though it had some hard truths that too many children have to experience.

How can you have an entire book about a Confederate soldier and just pretend that slavery wasn’t a thing? I understand that Union soldiers weren’t perfect and that literal children fought in the Civil Wars to protect their homes but this was for sure too whitewashed of a history for my taste.

I loved hoe descrptive the book is and where the dad and the kid is. I also enjoyed how the author put a map at the beginning of the book

i think it is a good book and i would recommend it for my class mates be cause it is a really scary and sad book about the war when he died.

I enjoyed reading this short story. Alexander helping the ghost find his family from a Civil War time, was sad heartwarming and sometimes just funny.

ok, but I'm not the target demographic.

Honestly, a great read for people who like history!! It's easy to read, has smooth storytelling, and is a great way to get kids and others into the stories of soldiers!

I chose 4 stars because I find this book amazing to me and compared to some other books i read before this is a good book.I got three reasons for someone to read this book they are if you like the paranormal ,history and fiction then you should read this story.The story would be better if Elaine made a cliff hanger to make another book with a different ghost.

Ghost Soldier by Elaine Marie Alphin, clearly portrays that the historical time period is 1861-1865. My evidence to support this thought is there is an army on the front cover. Also on pages 14 and 15 in this book the author gives clues jumbled throughout the text waiting to be revealed. When the General of the army murmured about the slavery caused by farmers,barrens, and companies to the soldier in a Southern accent that proves that it was the Civil War. Because during that time slavery occu

Read this book last weekend. So glad I did not let the cover chase me off. I usually don't judge by the covers but this one had "Boy Book" written all over it!Note the civil war clothes, the gun, the battlefield ... yeah, I thought it was going to be dreary and depressing, old-fashioned, like most of the civil war books I have read, and I needed something lighter to read.What a surprise this turned out to be. A modern boy needs to come to terms with his mother leaving him while dealing with a fa...

I loved this book. If you are interested with history and adventure this is the book for you. Elaine Marie Alphin used such incredible detail in the novel. For example, when Alexander would have a flashback she wrote that he could smell the scent of oranges and whenever Alexander was around the ghost he would get chilled by a cold gust of wind following the ghost. This book was an amazing adventure story. Alexander was on a mission to help the ghost figure out what had happened to his family wh

I took this book from the school library on a whim. Someone had left it on a table instead of returning it to be shelved. I was in a "ghost mood" so I began reading it.I like the protagonist. He's struggling with the loss of his mom and his changing life. I understand that and I think some of my students would, too. I like that he's not an ordinary kid: he sees ghosts, he plays the recorder (self-taught), and he gardens. He's also stubborn as a mule--which turns out to be a good thing.I like the...

This is a good story for a sixth or seventh grader (or eighth grader who is not a strong reader) about the "War Between the States."Alexander's father takes him to North Carolina for spring break where they will spend time with Mrs. Hambrick (the woman - a widow who Alexander's dad wants to marry) and her two children Nicole and Carelton.During a visit to the battlefield at Fort Stedman (near Petersburg) Alexander experiences the battle as the soldiers did and meets a ghost (Richeson - Rich Fran...

This book is about a boy named Alexander. All his life he was able to see ghosts, except his late mother. He always thought that sooner or later he would see her, but he never has. Now he moves in with the women his father intends to marry. One day, he saw a confederate soldier about his age, Richeson. Day after day the vision he sees become more real. Richeson came back and appeals to Alexander to help look for his sister. I connect this book to the movie, "The Sixth Sense". The movie is about

This book deals with single parenthood and how Alex feels about not having his mom around anymore. Blended families are also explored along with interesting aspects of the Civil War and the amazing amount of young people who fought for both the Union and the Confederacy. It's easy to see why this book is the winner of both the 2002 Society of Midland Authors Children's Fiction Award and the 2004 Young Hoosier Book Award. The book is well-written and Alex and the other main characters seem like p...

This book was a slow start for me . . . angry teens are not usually at the top of my list for favorite characters. However, this book picked up steam as it went along. And while it is a bit fantastical (one of the main characters is a ghost), it was a nice vehicle for telling about a small part of the civil war (namely the Battle of Ft. Stedman and Sherman's march). Most surprising, for me, was the even-handed treatment of the people and cause of the Confederacy (i.e. they weren't fighting solel...

A Battle of the Books selection for 4th graders, this book was set in North Carolina and brought to life the Civil War in the form of a young soldier (the ghost). Alexander and his dad are visiting NC because his dad wants remarry and move there. Alexander hates the idea and feels like he'd be giving on his dream of his mother returning. He meets the ghost whose dream is to find out if his family, especially his sister, survived the war. Alexander is the only one who can help his dream come true...

                                                                      The Ghost Solder                                                                           Book reviewThis is a great cliff hanger book. That is paranormal and historic.This book has a ghost named rich and a boy named Alexander. The ghost is stuck in the war between the states. Then alexander comes along and gets stuck  with rich.  The author adds real emotion to Alexander's reaction to rich being in his life. And then adds re...

This is an awesome book with elements of great realistic fiction, wonderful historical fiction and just the right touch of the supernatural. And if that isn’t enough it includes excellent primary source research and finishes with a history lesson putting it all in perspective.Alexander saw a ghost once, but he wasn’t prepared for his next experience that put him right in the middle of the Civil War. From the 20th century Alexander is coping with the fact that his mother has left and he’s still c...

I don't believe in coincidences. I do believe some people's spirits remain earthbound after death. That being said, to 'discover' this book in a small Salvation Army store in a small Midwestern town on my birthday was truly a gift. Rich in American history,( something I love reading about ), it intertwines that aspect with the real probability and possible causes for 'hauntings' as well as speaks to the young adult angst of 'growing up'.Very well written making it an easy read. Although targeted...

I read this because my oldest son was reading it in fifth grade. I have been trying to read a few of the books that he is reading as he goes along.I currently work at Duke and have worked in the Research Triangle Park so I particularly identified with the surroundings of the novel.I really got into it for a young reader level novel. The message about acceptance is one we can all benefit from hearing and the Civil War history included was straight forward and interesting. I highly recommend you r...

Fun, fast read about a boy who goes to meet his future step family, visits the Civil War site of the Battle of Petersburg nearby, and picks up the ghost of a young Confederate soldier killed in the battle who needs help tracing what happened to his family, whose farm was destroyed by Sherman’s march. As the boy researches the family, he learns and changes through “his” ghost’s experiences and his own. Positive. A painless way to learn some real history.