[CZ0]⋙ [PDF] The Ghost in the Big Brass Bed Bruce Coville 9780553158274 Books

The Ghost in the Big Brass Bed Bruce Coville 9780553158274 Books

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The Ghost in the Big Brass Bed Bruce Coville 9780553158274 Books

The third, final and best installment in Bruce Coville's ghostly trilogy is "The Ghost in the Big Brass Bed", following on from The Ghost In the Third Row and The Ghost Wore Gray, each one centered on two girls' experiences with haunted houses and the ghosts therein. Nina Tanleven has just started a part-time job at an antiques store when she's introduced to the elderly Phoebe Watson. The daughter of a famous artist, she's being forced to systematically sell the old furniture in her house in order to pay off debts.

Nina and her friend Chris Gurney strike up a friendship with Phoebe, and having built-up a sensitivity to ghosts in the previous books, know before even setting foot in Phoebe's house that there's a ghost inside. In fact, there are plenty of mysteries within the old house. Not only does a gruesome painting in the parlor have a terrible effect over Nina, but the two girls also witness the ghost of a little girl weeping in the brass bed upstairs. How are the two connected? The girls begin their investigation, researching the tragic life of Phoebe's father, the famous painter Cornelius Fletcher and the rumors of his Lost Masterpiece that could save Phoebe from financial ruination.

I hadn't read this book since I was ten years old, and I returned to it over a decade later with some hesitation, afraid that it would not live up to my memory of it as a nail-biting ghost story that I read in bed until way past the time I was meant to be asleep. Of course, nothing is ever the way you remember as a child, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that "The Ghost in the Big Brass Bed" holds up incredibly well. The story itself is complex without being confusing, and the pieces of the ghost story are gradually revealed out so that the reader has a chance of solving the mystery along with Nina and Chris, with plenty of clues and red herrings along the way. This is a surprisingly thick book for its reading audience, but Coville masterfully paces the suspense.

As always, the real danger lies not with the ghosts themselves, but with the living. However, for the first time the ghosts are not wholly benevolent (as the ghosts in the previous books were) but rather intimidating and scary. It means that this is a much more chilling tale than its predecessors, and its resolution all the more satisfying. Although Chris is a little sidelined owing to the circumstances of the plot, Nina takes center-stage with her breezy first-person narration in order to lead the story to its rather ingenious outcome. Coville has written a rewarding and poignant ghost story that even manages to inject some WWI history into the plot, and which is immensely re-readable - even all these years later!


Tags : The Ghost in the Big Brass Bed [Bruce Coville] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. When sixth grader Nina Tanleven starts working at an antiques shop, she never expects to stumble onto a mystery -- or into danger. But that's exactly what happens when she and her best friend,Bruce Coville,The Ghost in the Big Brass Bed,Yearling,0553158279,Ghosts;Fiction.,Children's & young adult fiction & true stories,Children's BooksAges 9-12 Fiction,Fiction,Ghosts,Horror & Ghost Stories,Juvenile Fiction,Juvenile Fiction Horror,Juvenile Fiction Horror & Ghost Stories,Mysteries, Espionage, & Detective Stories,Children: Grades 4-6

The Ghost in the Big Brass Bed Bruce Coville 9780553158274 Books Reviews

ISBN 0553158279 - Slightly thicker than the average book for this age set, The Ghost appeals to my mystery-loving side AND the mom-side that likes to see a kid read more. Although one in a series from Coville, it's not necessary to have read the previous books to be able to catch up, which is a huge bonus for readers who happen upon this one without ever having seen the others. Slight Spoiler Alert - My last paragraph should be skipped by those who don't want to know anything about the ending.

Nina, aka Nine, Tanleven and her friend Chris have developed a sensitivity to ghosts (this happened mostly in the two earlier books), which has served them well and is about to do so again. Offered a job in an antique store by a friend of her father, Nine accepts, partly because the shop is close to Chris's house. Living on opposite sides of town, the two girls don't get to see enough of one another and the job will make it easier to spend time together. The first day on the job, Nine meets an old lady who walks into the store and begins to sob over the piece of furniture Nine is dusting. Norma, Nine's boss, introduces the pair and unknowingly starts Nine and Chris on their next ghosthunting adventure.

The old lady is Phoebe Watson, daughter of local artist Cornelius Fletcher, who died a mad and broken man. There was a rumor of a missing work of art, the Lost Masterpiece, which is said to be worth millions, but it's never turned up and now Phoebe faces losing her family home. Needless to say, that family home is haunted - and the riddle of the ghosts who reside there with Phoebe is only one mystery the girls must solve because this time their very lives are at stake!

I'm not absolutely sure, but Coville seems to have abandoned Nine and Chris after this book, which is too bad - the pair obviously had tremendous potential in their developing sensitivity to spirits, not to mention the other peripheral issues - the distance between them, the women who constantly pursue Nine's father... Some parents might find Phoebe's death and the life-threatening hostage-taking scene at the end to be a bit much for the younger reader, but I don't think anyone will be scarred for life by it. Ghost story fans will be as sad as I was to get to the end and realize Nine and Chris have hunted their last ghost!

- AnnaLovesBooks
THE GHOST IN THE BIG BRASS BED by Bruce Coville
(Earlier books in the series, also excellent — THE GHOST IN THE THIRD ROW and THE GHOST WORE GRAY)
I throughly enjoy these fast, exciting ghost stories, Chris and Nine’s adventures, and Coville’s way of including good messages and information, without being “preachy,” just naturally occurring in conversation with Nina/Nine’s cool dad or others.
For example, a having character named Phoebe might flummox a young reader, but not when introduced this way, “‘Fee-bee!’ (Actually, she was shouting, ‘Phoebe!’ — but I didn’t know how to spell it until . . . later.”
Lessons on human nature
“. . . people love to tell you what they know.”
“Maybe when you feed someone you start to get attached to him.”
“ . . . we’ve pretty much beaten the flu. I wish I could say the same thing about prejudice.”
“. . . bravery doesn’t mean not being afraid; it means doing what has to be done even if you’re terrified.”
A little girl lost and a howling ghost circling the house. This is the best in the trilogy. Strongly written, fast paced and with a very nice ending. It is a shame Coville never wrote any other additions to the series. I suspect his other series were more successful.
The third, final and best installment in Bruce Coville's ghostly trilogy is "The Ghost in the Big Brass Bed", following on from The Ghost In the Third Row and The Ghost Wore Gray, each one centered on two girls' experiences with haunted houses and the ghosts therein. Nina Tanleven has just started a part-time job at an antiques store when she's introduced to the elderly Phoebe Watson. The daughter of a famous artist, she's being forced to systematically sell the old furniture in her house in order to pay off debts.

Nina and her friend Chris Gurney strike up a friendship with Phoebe, and having built-up a sensitivity to ghosts in the previous books, know before even setting foot in Phoebe's house that there's a ghost inside. In fact, there are plenty of mysteries within the old house. Not only does a gruesome painting in the parlor have a terrible effect over Nina, but the two girls also witness the ghost of a little girl weeping in the brass bed upstairs. How are the two connected? The girls begin their investigation, researching the tragic life of Phoebe's father, the famous painter Cornelius Fletcher and the rumors of his Lost Masterpiece that could save Phoebe from financial ruination.

I hadn't read this book since I was ten years old, and I returned to it over a decade later with some hesitation, afraid that it would not live up to my memory of it as a nail-biting ghost story that I read in bed until way past the time I was meant to be asleep. Of course, nothing is ever the way you remember as a child, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that "The Ghost in the Big Brass Bed" holds up incredibly well. The story itself is complex without being confusing, and the pieces of the ghost story are gradually revealed out so that the reader has a chance of solving the mystery along with Nina and Chris, with plenty of clues and red herrings along the way. This is a surprisingly thick book for its reading audience, but Coville masterfully paces the suspense.

As always, the real danger lies not with the ghosts themselves, but with the living. However, for the first time the ghosts are not wholly benevolent (as the ghosts in the previous books were) but rather intimidating and scary. It means that this is a much more chilling tale than its predecessors, and its resolution all the more satisfying. Although Chris is a little sidelined owing to the circumstances of the plot, Nina takes center-stage with her breezy first-person narration in order to lead the story to its rather ingenious outcome. Coville has written a rewarding and poignant ghost story that even manages to inject some WWI history into the plot, and which is immensely re-readable - even all these years later!