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Ghost
The Blue Ghost
At her grandmother's log cabin, nine-year-old Liz is led to make contact with children she believes may be her ancestors.
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
20 people are currently reading
133 people want to read
About the author
Marion Dane Bauer
171 books186 followersMarion Dane Bauer is the author of more than one hundred books for young people, ranging from novelty and picture books through early readers, both fiction and nonfiction, books on writing, and middle-grade and young-adult novels. She has won numerous awards, including several Minnesota Book Awards, a Jane Addams Peace Association Award for RAIN OF FIRE, an American Library Association Newbery Honor Award for ON MY HONOR, a number of state children's choice awards and the Kerlan Award from the University of Minnesota for the body of her work.
She is also the editor of and a contributor to the ground-breaking collection of gay and lesbian short stories, Am I Blue? Coming Out from the Silence.
Marion was one of the founding faculty and the first Faculty Chair for the Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her writing guide, the American Library Association Notable WHAT'S YOUR STORY? A YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE TO WRITING FICTION, is used by writers of all ages. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen different languages.
She has six grandchildren and lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her partner and a cavalier King Charles spaniel, Dawn.
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INTERVIEW WITH MARION DANE BAUER
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Q. What brought you to a career as a writer?
A. I seem to have been born with my head full of stories. For almost as far back as I can remember, I used most of my unoccupied moments--even in school when I was supposed to be doing other "more important" things--to make up stories in my head. I sometimes got a notation on my report card that said, "Marion dreams." It was not a compliment. But while the stories I wove occupied my mind in a very satisfying way, they were so complex that I never thought of trying to write them down. I wouldn't have known where to begin. So though I did all kinds of writing through my teen and early adult years--letters, journals, essays, poetry--I didn't begin to gather the craft I needed to write stories until I was in my early thirties. That was also when my last excuse for not taking the time to sit down to do the writing I'd so long wanted to do started first grade.
Q. And why write for young people?
A. Because I get my creative energy in examining young lives, young issues. Most people, when they enter adulthood, leave childhood behind, by which I mean that they forget most of what they know about themselves as children. Of course, the ghosts of childhood still inhabit them, but they deal with them in other forms--problems with parental authority turn into problems with bosses, for instance--and don't keep reaching back to the original source to try to fix it, to make everything come out differently than it did the first time. Most children's writers, I suspect, are fixers. We return, again and again, usually under the cover of made-up characters, to work things through. I don't know that our childhoods are necessarily more painful than most. Every childhood has pain it, because life has pain in it at every stage. The difference is that we are compelled to keep returning to the source.
Q. You write for a wide range of ages. Do you write from a different place in writing for preschoolers than for young adolescents?
A. In a picture book or board book, I'm always writing from the womb of the family, a place that--while it might be intruded upon by fears, for instance--is still, ultimately, safe and nurturing. That's what my own early childhood was like, so it's easy for me to return to those feelings and to recreate them.
When I write for older readers, I'm writing from a very different experience. My early adolescence, especially, was a time of deep alienation, mostly from my peers but in some ways from my family as well. And so I write my older stories out of that pain, that longing for connection. A story has to have a problem at its core. No struggle
She is also the editor of and a contributor to the ground-breaking collection of gay and lesbian short stories, Am I Blue? Coming Out from the Silence.
Marion was one of the founding faculty and the first Faculty Chair for the Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her writing guide, the American Library Association Notable WHAT'S YOUR STORY? A YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE TO WRITING FICTION, is used by writers of all ages. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen different languages.
She has six grandchildren and lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her partner and a cavalier King Charles spaniel, Dawn.
-------------------------------------
INTERVIEW WITH MARION DANE BAUER
-------------------------------------
Q. What brought you to a career as a writer?
A. I seem to have been born with my head full of stories. For almost as far back as I can remember, I used most of my unoccupied moments--even in school when I was supposed to be doing other "more important" things--to make up stories in my head. I sometimes got a notation on my report card that said, "Marion dreams." It was not a compliment. But while the stories I wove occupied my mind in a very satisfying way, they were so complex that I never thought of trying to write them down. I wouldn't have known where to begin. So though I did all kinds of writing through my teen and early adult years--letters, journals, essays, poetry--I didn't begin to gather the craft I needed to write stories until I was in my early thirties. That was also when my last excuse for not taking the time to sit down to do the writing I'd so long wanted to do started first grade.
Q. And why write for young people?
A. Because I get my creative energy in examining young lives, young issues. Most people, when they enter adulthood, leave childhood behind, by which I mean that they forget most of what they know about themselves as children. Of course, the ghosts of childhood still inhabit them, but they deal with them in other forms--problems with parental authority turn into problems with bosses, for instance--and don't keep reaching back to the original source to try to fix it, to make everything come out differently than it did the first time. Most children's writers, I suspect, are fixers. We return, again and again, usually under the cover of made-up characters, to work things through. I don't know that our childhoods are necessarily more painful than most. Every childhood has pain it, because life has pain in it at every stage. The difference is that we are compelled to keep returning to the source.
Q. You write for a wide range of ages. Do you write from a different place in writing for preschoolers than for young adolescents?
A. In a picture book or board book, I'm always writing from the womb of the family, a place that--while it might be intruded upon by fears, for instance--is still, ultimately, safe and nurturing. That's what my own early childhood was like, so it's easy for me to return to those feelings and to recreate them.
When I write for older readers, I'm writing from a very different experience. My early adolescence, especially, was a time of deep alienation, mostly from my peers but in some ways from my family as well. And so I write my older stories out of that pain, that longing for connection. A story has to have a problem at its core. No struggle
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
December 9, 2017
What I like in this book of Marion Dane Bauer is how she remind us to remember that every generation is connected. The title sounds scary because of the word ghost, but it is really a heartwarming and family-oriented story. The Blue Ghost is a light read and readers will be have a great time reading this wonderful book.
May 1, 2025
The Blue Ghost (2005) is the first of Marion Dane Bauer's four emerging reader paranormal chapter books and is in my opinion geared towards and as such also most suited for young readers (especially girls) from about the age of six to eight or nine (with the series stories titled The Blue Ghost, The Red Ghost, The Green Ghost, The Golden Ghost and with each obviously having a colour both in the title and also within the featured texts in so far that the experiences related by Dane Bauer very specifically present spirits appearing in blue, red, green and golden hues). And because the four books are standalones, they also do not need to be perused in order of publication and that what Marion Dane Bauer for example relates in The Blue Ghost actually has nothing to do with and has no bearing on either The Red Ghost or on The Green Ghost and of course also vice versa (but just to point out that I have not yet read The Golden Ghost although I am of course planning to do so).
In The Blue Ghost main protagonist and nine-year-old Liz (but her full name is of course Elizabeth) is shown by Dane Bauer going for the first time with her grandmother to the family log cabin in the woods of northern Minnesota (and actually for the first and for the last time, since Liz is helping her grandmother gather up what she wants to take along with her to her house in the city as the log cabin is being sold). And yes, I do have to say that in The Blue Ghost, while Liz's words are definitely suitable for a nine-year-old, her behaviour as described by Marion Dane Bauer occasionally does tend to feel somewhat too mature and almost like how an eleven or twelve year old would likely be acting (not a huge deal, but something definitely just a trifle noticeable). And because The Blue Ghost shows that Liz's ancestors (and many of whom have also like her been named Elizabeth) have owned and lived in that log cabin for about 150 years, when a blueish and glowing ghost clad in 19th century attire appears in Liz's bedroom calling for Elizabeth, Liz of course and naturally at first assumes that the summons is not meant for her but for one of the prior owners of that name (for Liz' great-grandmother, her grandmother or her mother).
However, when in The Blue Ghost Liz is shown by Dane Bauer becoming increasingly curious about the blue ghost which keeps appearing in her bedroom and calling, and with Liz finally deciding that she needs to follow the beckoning blueish apparition through an interior wall (as there is something about the ghost that is anxious and seemingly also requiring help and support), Liz actually travels back in time to help the first Elizabeth of her family cure her baby brother from a severe and potentially deadly case of the croup by finding the blue ghost's (Elizabeth's deceased mother's) book of remedies and following the directions regarding how to deal with croup, thereby saving Matthew's life and of course also his future as a college mathematics professor, but that the first Elizabeth is also encouraged by Liz knowing how to read to learn to read as well and that Elizabeth in fact ends up becoming a physician at a time when this was still majorly rare for women. And yes, at the end of The Blue Ghost (and once again in the present), Liz shares her experiences with her grandmother, who admits to also having seen the blue ghost when she was a girl (but that Liz' grandmother unlike her granddaughter never followed the blue ghost into the past).
Now The Blue Ghost is tightly written and also pretty spare on textual details (which my adult reading self kind of finds a wee bit frustrating as she wants and even needs more of a backstory and also more contemporary details but which for my inner eight year old and recently independent reader has neither been noticed nor therefore been in any way problematic either) and that Marion Dare Bauer with The Blue Ghost offers to her readers a pleasantly eerie ambience infused with the combined thrills of both solving a mystery and also helping someone in need (and with Dare Bauer's narrative for The Blue Ghost equally and thankfully so never being either contents-wise or stylistically overly creepy, never being violent and never with unfriendly or with evil paranormal experiences to be encountered either, that the blue ghost of the book title is entirely friendly, is simply an apparition needing and asking for help and with Liz' experiences going back in time changing the past in order to rectify and make positive the present). And indeed, it is equally textually lovely how Liz and her grandmother share a comfortable camaraderie in The Blue Ghost (without an adults above children mentality, without any strict rules, regulations, dictates, without "my way or the highway" attitudes) and which allows young Liz to recognise her own importance in the family chain, not just as a so-called guardian angel and protector who steps in to help her ancestors from long gone but also as her grandmother's friend and companion while the older woman packs up her personal items and mementos while she prepares the family's log cabin for sale.
And finally, rating The Blue Ghost from how my above mentioned inner eight year old reader has enjoyed the story, yes the combination of Marion Dare Bauer's words and Suling Wang's black-and-white illustrations is solidly four stars. And that while Wang's artwork for The Blue Ghost is perhaps a bit visually bland, it also does therefore never visually distract from Dare Bauer's text and as such works very well providing a nice but never aesthetically interfering or overpowering decorative trim for The Blue Ghost and especially so since Suling Wang's pictures of a very kind-eyed and totally unfrightening blue ghost also helps to keep the mood and the ambience of The Blue Ghost from in any manner becoming scary and/or too uncanny (and which is in particular appreciated since Marion Dane Bauer's intended audience for The Blue Ghost are young and recently independently reading children and that for me, making ghost stories really scary for eight to ten year olds is not really something I would find appropriate).
Oh and by the way, the book cover image for The Blue Ghost unfortunately makes the ghost of Elizabeth appear considerably freakier than how she is both verbally presented by Marion Dane Bauer and illustrated by Suling Wang (so please do not judge The Blue Ghost by its cover, as neither the text nor the images of the blue ghost are in any way creepy or frightening).
In The Blue Ghost main protagonist and nine-year-old Liz (but her full name is of course Elizabeth) is shown by Dane Bauer going for the first time with her grandmother to the family log cabin in the woods of northern Minnesota (and actually for the first and for the last time, since Liz is helping her grandmother gather up what she wants to take along with her to her house in the city as the log cabin is being sold). And yes, I do have to say that in The Blue Ghost, while Liz's words are definitely suitable for a nine-year-old, her behaviour as described by Marion Dane Bauer occasionally does tend to feel somewhat too mature and almost like how an eleven or twelve year old would likely be acting (not a huge deal, but something definitely just a trifle noticeable). And because The Blue Ghost shows that Liz's ancestors (and many of whom have also like her been named Elizabeth) have owned and lived in that log cabin for about 150 years, when a blueish and glowing ghost clad in 19th century attire appears in Liz's bedroom calling for Elizabeth, Liz of course and naturally at first assumes that the summons is not meant for her but for one of the prior owners of that name (for Liz' great-grandmother, her grandmother or her mother).
However, when in The Blue Ghost Liz is shown by Dane Bauer becoming increasingly curious about the blue ghost which keeps appearing in her bedroom and calling, and with Liz finally deciding that she needs to follow the beckoning blueish apparition through an interior wall (as there is something about the ghost that is anxious and seemingly also requiring help and support), Liz actually travels back in time to help the first Elizabeth of her family cure her baby brother from a severe and potentially deadly case of the croup by finding the blue ghost's (Elizabeth's deceased mother's) book of remedies and following the directions regarding how to deal with croup, thereby saving Matthew's life and of course also his future as a college mathematics professor, but that the first Elizabeth is also encouraged by Liz knowing how to read to learn to read as well and that Elizabeth in fact ends up becoming a physician at a time when this was still majorly rare for women. And yes, at the end of The Blue Ghost (and once again in the present), Liz shares her experiences with her grandmother, who admits to also having seen the blue ghost when she was a girl (but that Liz' grandmother unlike her granddaughter never followed the blue ghost into the past).
Now The Blue Ghost is tightly written and also pretty spare on textual details (which my adult reading self kind of finds a wee bit frustrating as she wants and even needs more of a backstory and also more contemporary details but which for my inner eight year old and recently independent reader has neither been noticed nor therefore been in any way problematic either) and that Marion Dare Bauer with The Blue Ghost offers to her readers a pleasantly eerie ambience infused with the combined thrills of both solving a mystery and also helping someone in need (and with Dare Bauer's narrative for The Blue Ghost equally and thankfully so never being either contents-wise or stylistically overly creepy, never being violent and never with unfriendly or with evil paranormal experiences to be encountered either, that the blue ghost of the book title is entirely friendly, is simply an apparition needing and asking for help and with Liz' experiences going back in time changing the past in order to rectify and make positive the present). And indeed, it is equally textually lovely how Liz and her grandmother share a comfortable camaraderie in The Blue Ghost (without an adults above children mentality, without any strict rules, regulations, dictates, without "my way or the highway" attitudes) and which allows young Liz to recognise her own importance in the family chain, not just as a so-called guardian angel and protector who steps in to help her ancestors from long gone but also as her grandmother's friend and companion while the older woman packs up her personal items and mementos while she prepares the family's log cabin for sale.
And finally, rating The Blue Ghost from how my above mentioned inner eight year old reader has enjoyed the story, yes the combination of Marion Dare Bauer's words and Suling Wang's black-and-white illustrations is solidly four stars. And that while Wang's artwork for The Blue Ghost is perhaps a bit visually bland, it also does therefore never visually distract from Dare Bauer's text and as such works very well providing a nice but never aesthetically interfering or overpowering decorative trim for The Blue Ghost and especially so since Suling Wang's pictures of a very kind-eyed and totally unfrightening blue ghost also helps to keep the mood and the ambience of The Blue Ghost from in any manner becoming scary and/or too uncanny (and which is in particular appreciated since Marion Dane Bauer's intended audience for The Blue Ghost are young and recently independently reading children and that for me, making ghost stories really scary for eight to ten year olds is not really something I would find appropriate).
Oh and by the way, the book cover image for The Blue Ghost unfortunately makes the ghost of Elizabeth appear considerably freakier than how she is both verbally presented by Marion Dane Bauer and illustrated by Suling Wang (so please do not judge The Blue Ghost by its cover, as neither the text nor the images of the blue ghost are in any way creepy or frightening).
November 26, 2021
Nice grandma/granddaughter story. Well done illustrations.
November 6, 2012
1. Genre: Modern Fantasy
2. Summary: While staying at her grandma’s house, Liz is visited by a blue ghost who calls out her name. Liz finally notices that the blue ghost is that of a woman. She later learns that the women’s daughter, who is also named Elizabeth, needs Liz’s help finding a way to keep her baby brother alive after he develops croup.
3. Critique:
(a.) Setting
(b.) The story takes place at Liz’s grandmother log cabin, which is where her grandmother grew up. In fact, the house has been in the family for many generations. Although the story begins in the present, readers are taken back and forth in time to learn why the blue ghost comes to visit Liz in her bedroom. The bedroom serves as a connection between past and present.
(c) Liz is able to walk through the bedroom wall and be taken back in time to the log cabin, which is the original part of the house. There she finds a girl close to her age named Elizabeth and three young boys and a baby. (page 34) Liz learns from her grandmother that these ghosts that she even helps are actually family from long ago.
4. Curriculum Connection: As a literature lesson, teachers could have their students predict what might happen in the story or predict who the ghost may be before reading the book. Students could also write their own ghost story as a way to practice their writing skills.
2. Summary: While staying at her grandma’s house, Liz is visited by a blue ghost who calls out her name. Liz finally notices that the blue ghost is that of a woman. She later learns that the women’s daughter, who is also named Elizabeth, needs Liz’s help finding a way to keep her baby brother alive after he develops croup.
3. Critique:
(a.) Setting
(b.) The story takes place at Liz’s grandmother log cabin, which is where her grandmother grew up. In fact, the house has been in the family for many generations. Although the story begins in the present, readers are taken back and forth in time to learn why the blue ghost comes to visit Liz in her bedroom. The bedroom serves as a connection between past and present.
(c) Liz is able to walk through the bedroom wall and be taken back in time to the log cabin, which is the original part of the house. There she finds a girl close to her age named Elizabeth and three young boys and a baby. (page 34) Liz learns from her grandmother that these ghosts that she even helps are actually family from long ago.
4. Curriculum Connection: As a literature lesson, teachers could have their students predict what might happen in the story or predict who the ghost may be before reading the book. Students could also write their own ghost story as a way to practice their writing skills.
March 13, 2012
This is one of four colorful Ghost stories written by Marion Dane Bauer. We recently read The Green Ghost and our oldest really liked it, so we put the others on hold.
This tale involves a family who passes down the name Elizabeth through the generations of baby girls and the cabin in which many of them lived most of their lives. The youngest Elizabeth visits the cabin one last time with her grandmother and discovers more about her family history than she ever expected. This was a very entertaining and delightfully spooky tale and I love that she was able to help her grandmother discover the family treasure within the chest. It's not a traditional "mystery," but the story is certainly mysterious in a paranormal kind of way.
Overall we liked this story and look forward to reading the other two books in this series. Our oldest will be thrilled if the author continues the series...
This tale involves a family who passes down the name Elizabeth through the generations of baby girls and the cabin in which many of them lived most of their lives. The youngest Elizabeth visits the cabin one last time with her grandmother and discovers more about her family history than she ever expected. This was a very entertaining and delightfully spooky tale and I love that she was able to help her grandmother discover the family treasure within the chest. It's not a traditional "mystery," but the story is certainly mysterious in a paranormal kind of way.
Overall we liked this story and look forward to reading the other two books in this series. Our oldest will be thrilled if the author continues the series...
April 20, 2015
Liz is staying with her grandmother in Gran's log cabin in the forest, built by her forefathers. She wakes up the first night, seeing the ghost of a woman in an old-fashioned dress hovering over a locked trunk in her bedroom. On subsequent nights, Liz hears a voice calling "Elizabeth" and is able to time travel through the wall to the log cabin of the past. Much like the central character in Philippa Pearce's Tom's Midnight Garden, Liz is able to interact with a child of the past, and in doing so, change the present.
For an early chapter book, characterized by simplicity of vocabulary, Dane Bauer does a very fine job creating a suspenseful story for young readers.
For an early chapter book, characterized by simplicity of vocabulary, Dane Bauer does a very fine job creating a suspenseful story for young readers.
August 23, 2022
Very cute story with historical touches and a kid friendly mystery
December 29, 2014
i loved this book! I read it so many times when i was younger!
October 17, 2020
It’s hard to say anything much about the book because it’s so short. It moves quickly because there’s so little time. I didn’t realize this book was so short and expected it to have more content. This is like a first chapter book with very simple language and sentences and is focused more on staying short and simple and not really worried about the plot or story.
It was a bit much that all her ancestors going back to her great-great-whatever grandma are named Elizabeth but the main character and her previous two ancestors had shortened, nickname versions.
Her grandma has to sell the family house for some reason that isn’t clear, so they’re going through things to clear the place out. The first night there she heard Elizabeth being called and didn’t think it was for her since she goes by Liz. Now I’m wondering if the woman wasn’t calling Elizabeth for her daughter...Idk, that isn’t clear either. And she saw an orb moving around that turned into a blue woman. Kind of all over the place. It led her to the wall and Liz bumped into it, expecting it to take her somewhere and then she blushed. That was funny.
Another night the wall did disappear and she found herself back in time when Elizabeth was a kid and her mom was dead and the baby was sick. Elizabeth thought Liz was her guardian angel and then Liz backed up and was taken home. She went back again and had Elizabeth open her mom’s chest containing a book of remedies, one for croup which the baby had. Elizabeth couldn’t read so it was up to Liz.
It felt so random/weird to have to go back in time and read an entry in a book to save one of your ancestor’s lives. I didn’t really like that. It was confusing making me wonder how the baby lived in the past without her help. Time travel is always confusing.
Liz went back to her time and talked with her grandma and learned Elizabeth became a doctor and her brother a professor. They had been unable to find the key to the chest but now Liz knew where it was and got it down off the wall. She showed her grandma the book of remedies and they were going to talk about their ghost stories. The grandma wanted a picture of the cabin to have and it was sad that there wasn’t one. I felt bad that she had to give up her family home with all the memories. It would’ve been better without that.
It was a bit much that all her ancestors going back to her great-great-whatever grandma are named Elizabeth but the main character and her previous two ancestors had shortened, nickname versions.
Her grandma has to sell the family house for some reason that isn’t clear, so they’re going through things to clear the place out. The first night there she heard Elizabeth being called and didn’t think it was for her since she goes by Liz. Now I’m wondering if the woman wasn’t calling Elizabeth for her daughter...Idk, that isn’t clear either. And she saw an orb moving around that turned into a blue woman. Kind of all over the place. It led her to the wall and Liz bumped into it, expecting it to take her somewhere and then she blushed. That was funny.
Another night the wall did disappear and she found herself back in time when Elizabeth was a kid and her mom was dead and the baby was sick. Elizabeth thought Liz was her guardian angel and then Liz backed up and was taken home. She went back again and had Elizabeth open her mom’s chest containing a book of remedies, one for croup which the baby had. Elizabeth couldn’t read so it was up to Liz.
It felt so random/weird to have to go back in time and read an entry in a book to save one of your ancestor’s lives. I didn’t really like that. It was confusing making me wonder how the baby lived in the past without her help. Time travel is always confusing.
Liz went back to her time and talked with her grandma and learned Elizabeth became a doctor and her brother a professor. They had been unable to find the key to the chest but now Liz knew where it was and got it down off the wall. She showed her grandma the book of remedies and they were going to talk about their ghost stories. The grandma wanted a picture of the cabin to have and it was sad that there wasn’t one. I felt bad that she had to give up her family home with all the memories. It would’ve been better without that.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 29, 2018
My son found this in the school library. It is part of a series he is enjoying and he really wanted me to read this. As the avenue of book recommendations is a two-way street, I agreed. It wasn't as awful as I was worried it would be--and, in fact, I can see how a 9 year old would enjoy this sweet little ghost story very much.
April 12, 2021
I liked the book The Blue ghost because it was about a girl who gets sucked into the past and helps a baby with The Croup. My favorite part is when the baby gets better. My least favorite part was when The baby starts to cry.I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to be scared but not that much, because this is a soft horror book.
September 24, 2018
This book is a good mystery for a young reader. Does not take long to read. The only part that left me disappointed was the ending.
Read
September 20, 2019I kinda liked this book because it was mystery but I wont reread it again because it was easy and it was kinda boring but the book was okay.
May 8, 2020
Very nice story for younger kids
September 7, 2021
I originally read this in about 2008 when I was 6 or 7 and completely forgot everything about it aside from me loving it. It honestly holds up incredibly well! I love the art and story.
February 1, 2022
Great easy-to-read middle grade historical fiction.
October 23, 2025
a sweet story of the past and guardian angels saving it
December 26, 2025
My daughter recommended I read this book, stating it was a good one…and she was right, it’s good!!
December 10, 2015
Taking place in a cabin in northern MN, Liz and her grandmother travel from Minneapolis to the cabin to pack away Liz's grandmother's things before they sell the cabin. Liz hears the faint calling of "Elizabeth" and is awakened from sleep to see a woman the color of blue standing in her room and then she disappears. Liz hears the laughter of children and a baby the next day sounding as if it is behind the wall of her bedroom. Liz thinks that if she truly believes she can go through the wall just like the blue ghost and find out what is behind it. Liz goes through the wall and finds herself in the past in the log cabin portion of her grandmother's cabin. She sees 3 boys, an older girl, and a baby boy and Liz is thought to be a guardian angel who has appeared when she meets the children. Liz again appears in the past when the blue ghost calls for her to find and open a blue trunk that contains a remedy to help the sick baby. Liz learns from her grandmother that the blue ghost is her cousin that died in childbirth leaving behind five children. It was Liz's actions in the past that help to save Matthew and we learn that both Matthew and Elizabeth, his older sister, grow up to be a doctor and college professor.
Genre:
Historical fiction - the book partially takes place is a setting from the past using characteristics of that time period.
Grades 3-5
Guided Reading Level - M
Writing Traits:
(1) Organization - The book hooks the reader in, clarifies information about the characters and the past as it progresses and finishes with a satisfying conclusion.
I think this book would be used well for enjoyment in the classroom silent reading portion of the day or even as a take home book for someone who would find the subject of interest. Students could talk about what Northern MN was like in the past as well as how children worked the farm and took care of family members as part of their responsibility. I would say that this text could also be used as a reading component for the content area of social studies for life in MN regions in the past.
Genre:
Historical fiction - the book partially takes place is a setting from the past using characteristics of that time period.
Grades 3-5
Guided Reading Level - M
Writing Traits:
(1) Organization - The book hooks the reader in, clarifies information about the characters and the past as it progresses and finishes with a satisfying conclusion.
I think this book would be used well for enjoyment in the classroom silent reading portion of the day or even as a take home book for someone who would find the subject of interest. Students could talk about what Northern MN was like in the past as well as how children worked the farm and took care of family members as part of their responsibility. I would say that this text could also be used as a reading component for the content area of social studies for life in MN regions in the past.
July 29, 2016
It’s another Kindle e-book ghost book! I have a theory that there are certain movies that have perfect screening locations. For instance, Jurassic Park should be seen at a drive in theater in the middle of a forest (which I did in Ohio back in the 1990s). In that same vein, I think ghost books go well with the e-reader format. Words seem to float in nothingness, like ghosts.
Format aside, Bauer’s short tale of a girl helping her ancestors in a crunch via the guidance of a blue ghost is a succinct, meat and potatoes read. There is the cotton candy of the supernatural balanced out by the emotional journey of the main protagonist, Liz, as she figures out how to help save her sick great great great uncle. These books – meat and potatoes with a healthy dose of sugar – make up their own category. They fall in between dinner and dessert, sort of like the Willy Wonka complete meal in one pill from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It’s keeping the sugar balanced that’s the trick.
Format aside, Bauer’s short tale of a girl helping her ancestors in a crunch via the guidance of a blue ghost is a succinct, meat and potatoes read. There is the cotton candy of the supernatural balanced out by the emotional journey of the main protagonist, Liz, as she figures out how to help save her sick great great great uncle. These books – meat and potatoes with a healthy dose of sugar – make up their own category. They fall in between dinner and dessert, sort of like the Willy Wonka complete meal in one pill from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It’s keeping the sugar balanced that’s the trick.
July 12, 2008
Liz accompanies her grandmother to close up the Minnesota lake cabin that has been in their family for generations. While getting the cabin ready to sell, Liz (named Elizabeth like 5 generations of women before her) hears an eerie voice calling her name.
When the Blue Ghost appears, Liz is not scared but instead very curious. Liz finds that if she closes her eyes and tries very hard she can walk through the wall! She finds herself in the past, with the first Elizabeth whose father built the cabin!
Strongly reminiscent of a early Nancy Drew novel (but for a much younger audience) The Blue Ghost is a very easy mystery/time travel/ghost story that would be enjoyable for young readers.
When the Blue Ghost appears, Liz is not scared but instead very curious. Liz finds that if she closes her eyes and tries very hard she can walk through the wall! She finds herself in the past, with the first Elizabeth whose father built the cabin!
Strongly reminiscent of a early Nancy Drew novel (but for a much younger audience) The Blue Ghost is a very easy mystery/time travel/ghost story that would be enjoyable for young readers.
April 30, 2012
The Blue Ghost is a mystery title that is also heart felt. Liz is helping her Grandmother pack up her house because she is moving out, but her family has lived in the house for generations. Their is enough action and fast paced to keep the reader interested, because the main character Liz, see a ghost at night calling her name and she is also transported to another time to see her great great grandmother in the same house. The relationship between Liz and her Grandmother is natural, endearing and very heartfelt. It is in away depressing to read about the grandmother has to move out because her family did not think it was safe for her to live alone. I would recommend this book for 3rd through 6th grade. Published 2005.
September 22, 2014
THE BLUE GHOST by Marion Dane Bauer was the perfect book for this upcoming day. In this story, Liz is visiting the family cabin with her grandmother. The cabin has been in the family for at least four generations and now Gran feels that she needs to sell the cabin because of her age and the location of the cabin from her home in the city. While there, Liz hears voices and a baby crying on the other side of the wall. She is also visited by a blue ghost who is urging her to walk through the wall to the voices and the crying baby. This book is a wonderful and quick read. I believe many students in second grade and up will enjoy this book. (This book was not scary but more of a mystery.) I am looking forward to reading THE GREEN GHOST and RED GHOST.
October 6, 2013
Liz (Elizabeth) goes to help Gran pack up the ancestral cabin in preparation for selling it. Gran claims that Liz is her guardian angel and tells her that all of the Elizabeths through the ages are meant to be guardian angels to each other. This makes sense as a blue ghost appears to Liz and leads her from the modern-day cabin into the cabin of the past where she helps another Elizabeth save her baby brother's life. A mild, charming ghost story for young readers with realistic illustrations that enhance the well-written text. My only problem with the book...I will never know how the story really ends! Will Gran really sell the cabin where her ancestors still linger?
January 28, 2013
Even though I am an adult, but I still enjoy YA/Children stories. I thoroughly enjoyed this little gem. It is about a young girl that reaches her ancestors while staying at her grandmother's family log cabin. It is a nice little heartwarming ghost story (really more like a guardian angel vs. scary ghost). If I had young children, this is the story I would read with them because it can raise some questions the child may have about my family history and learn about stories being passed on. I am looking forward to reading the author's other stories.
July 12, 2013
I like the way this series is formatted. The words are written with nice font size and spacing and line spacing for an early chapter book. The books are page turners so it helps the feeling of getting through the chapter books.
B. (age 9.5) said: It was good but I thought it needed a little more story -- more pages to the book because I wanted to know more about selling the house. Other than that I thought the book was very cool because I am starting to like books about ghosts.
B. (age 9.5) said: It was good but I thought it needed a little more story -- more pages to the book because I wanted to know more about selling the house. Other than that I thought the book was very cool because I am starting to like books about ghosts.
May 21, 2015
A little girl and her grandmother are staying at the grandmother's cabin in order to clean it and prepare for putting the well-loved home up for sale. However, the appearance of a blue ghost-like woman drags Elizabeth (a third generation Elizabeth) back to another time when an earlier Lizzie needed some help.
April 17, 2021
I remember my neighbour reading this to me one day. I got so obsessed with it and asked her to read it each time I visited. she got frustrated and gave me the book. heartwarming story, really.
I love it. Every time i revisit this book it's very nostalgic for me
The story, in particular, isn't anything peculiar or special but love it nonetheless.
I love it. Every time i revisit this book it's very nostalgic for me
The story, in particular, isn't anything peculiar or special but love it nonetheless.
April 12, 2008
A story is about Liz, a young girl, travels to the past led by a blue ghost.
The blue ghost is her great - great - great grandmother Elizabeth. Liz saves her baby, cousin with the croups. It is an entertaining time travel adventure.
The blue ghost is her great - great - great grandmother Elizabeth. Liz saves her baby, cousin with the croups. It is an entertaining time travel adventure.
March 4, 2009
the blue ghost what can i say? i know it was the best book i ever read because that story was the story my teacher read to me when i was in 4th grade. i remember only a little of it because it was so long i remember that the ghost apears and only the little girl could see her.
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