Survivor

The Sixth Sense: Secrets from Beyond #1

by David Levithan

THERE WERE TOO MANY OF THEM. THEY WERE ALL CLOSING IN. — A passenger plane falls from the sky. Dead people are everywhere. Only Cole Sear can see them -and they all want something from him. — One little girl survived the crash. But she lies in a coma, suspended between this world and the next. — It's up to Cole to help her. Only then will he solve the mystery of Flight 333. But first, he has to listen - and do what they ghosts want. No matter what.

Genres: Horror, Paranormal, Fantasy, Ghosts, Middle Grade, Fiction, Young Adult

160 pages, Paperback

First published August 31, 2000

About the author

David Levithan (born 1972) is an American children's book editor and award-winning author. He published his first YA book, Boy Meets Boy, in 2003. Levithan is also the founding editor of PUSH, a Young Adult imprint of Scholastic Press.

Reviews

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm typically not a fan of movie tie-in. Novelizations are one thing but to create an entire series of books from one film seems like a bit much. With that in mind, I reluctantly read Survivor, the first of the Scholastic books based on the Sixth Sense film. The film is now ten years old and the book series is nine years old so the hype has long since died. Can the book stand on its own after all this time?

Surprisingly (to me), the answer is yes. The main character is now Cole Sear and I suppose he was in the film too if you know the twist. There are ghosts and a mystery but the kid who sees ghosts could have been anyone. Cole here is angrier and more self confident than the withdrawn kid in the film.

To make this a "Sixth Sense" book, Cole needs dead people to see and the book delivers with an entire planeload of dead people when the plane crashes next to the museum where Cole and his classmates are on a field trip. What Cole sees in the very first minutes of the crash are crucial to solving the cause of the crash; he just doesn't know it yet and won't for a long while. In the meantime he has to do deal with a gaggle of ghosts who all want to be heard.

The two though who want to be heard most are the sister of the only surviving member of the crash and a Russian passenger suspected of being a terrorist. Like Philip in The Dead Father's Club, Cole has to set his priorities between the living and the dead. He has to sort through all the stories he's being told to find the truth and to decided who needs his help most.

Survivor doesn't require knowledge of the film to make sense. It stands by itself and would have been an excellent 'tween horror without the extra help.

[Alicia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book though it wasn't much of a scary story for me. I found the story intresting though. I found it intresting how Cole was dealing with seeing the spirits from the plane crash.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

as wild as it is that there are THREE kids books of the Sixth Sense, I really liked this one!! Spooky and cozy and nice

[Jason Schmidt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the original movie, saw this at a library sale, thought it might be something my daughter (10) would like: I am not sure who this book is for. It is written with a prose style and Lexile level similar to the “Goosebumps” books (which means it is well below what my daughter is now reading), BUT the content is dark, with the plot hinging on a plane crash and a possible terrorist attack (this came out in 2000). Numerous dead spirits, with some fairly dark themes (with something that happens with a terrorist that is pretty disturbing if one stops to think about it), but I did enjoy that it continued the plot of the film (and the promise of Cole’s ending in that film) with some new characters with some interesting implications about the future of this series (I believe that this is the first in a trilogy). I wish that this had actually been written as adult horror/fiction, with the author just going for it in terms of the dark content, but for what it is, it is a very quick read that had a few interesting ideas and some nostalgic moments for fans of the original film, but I just don’t know who I would recommend it to.

[TheCultureVulture]

Kid from The Sixth Sense witnesses an airline crash and is recruited by an "is he? or isn't he a ghost?" detective to determine how the plane crashed. The answer is as ridiculous as this entire premise.

[Conrad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no idea there was a mystery book series about the kid from The Sixth Sense helping dead people. But I found a couple today. Pretty good, considering its a kids/young adults book. Double twist at the end that caught me off guard. And more people who see dead people.

[Faisal Abid · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're a fan of the movie, you'll enjoy this book

[Wolverinefactor · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like a 3.5 / 5

There’s some mature themes here. There’s a handful of twists that don’t exactly work and I was unimpressed by how things get tied up.

[Beltrán · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't have to say that much about this book, it was quite short, the size of the book itself wasn't big exactly and the font was rather huge for a book. However, it was a quick and interesting read, the plot was well delivered and the retelling of the movie was done okay.

Cole is a nice guy, I wasn't able to identify with any of the characters completely but I guess he's the nearest one. What I disliked about this book is that it was really poor on descriptions, and not only the physical appearance but also the psychological structure of the characters was left to your imagination.

I don't know whether the scene of Emily, Marissa and their mother was supposed to be emotional or sad, but it wasn't, mainly because the lack of feelings references and a background of their past lives to make it more emotional. I have to admit I didn't expected the thing about the mother, it was... surprising.

I enjoyed the book, it's not THAT good but I'm looking forward to continue with the next one.

[Vanny]

Amazing!!!!!

[Marla · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Very suspenseful and gory, but exciting and enjoyable.

[Jack C.]

Fantasy

Quarter 1

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book a lot!!

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this movie and was really excited to see a book based on it. The characters were portrayed as they were in the movie. It was a good, short read even if it is for kids ;-)

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread! It's still really good. True to the characters and the twist. I would definitely recommend it to all ages even though it's middle grade. Now to book 2, reread also.

[Gissellex3]

omg guys this book is scaryy, the lil kid can see dead ppl!!! ahhhhhhhh

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spooky series written after the movie release. Sixth sense fans would enjoy it.