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Trace
In a debut novel that's perfect for fans of Jason Reynolds and Erin Entrada Kelly, award-winning author/illustrator and educator Pat Cummings tells a poignant story about grief, love, and the untold stories that echo across time. Trace Carter doesn’t know how to feel at ease in his new life in New York. Even though his artsy Auntie Lea is cool, her brownstone still isn’t his home . Haunted by flashbacks of the accident that killed his parents, the best he can do is try to distract himself from memories of the past. But the past isn’t done with him. When Trace takes a wrong turn in the New York Public Library, he finds someone else lost in the stacks with a crying little boy, wearing old, tattered clothes. And though at first he can’t quite believe he’s seen a ghost, Trace soon discovers that the boy he saw has ties to Trace’s own history—and that he himself may be the key to setting the dead to rest.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published April 2, 2019
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2652 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
May 1, 2019
I feel like ghost stories don’t command the respect they used to. Can anyone seriously contest that they aren’t popular? When I was a kid, the Scholastic Book Club flyer always featured at least one Apple paperback that was ghost related. Inevitably written by a Willo Davis Roberts or a Mary Downing Hahn or a Betty Ren Wright, they were a consistent source of safe spooks. I trusted ghost stories. Loved them even. But these days no one’s really made a concentrated effort to create a creepy brand like that. Our creepy isn’t creepy anymore. Sure, you’ll get the occasional Lockwood & Company series, but that’s once in a blue moon. And so the 9-year-old inside of me waits, not so patiently, for new ghost stories all the time. Now Trace by Pat Cummings is probably too long and complex a book to have fit within that Apple paperback model of yore, but when it comes to hauntings, it ranks right up there with the best of them. If small sobbing ghosts and ancient fires sound like your cup of tea, add in a little jolt of trauma and you’ll find a friend in Trace.
What do you do when you see a ghost? Not a big scary sheet that flies around saying “Boo” or anything. More like a boy. A little boy, with a runny nose, who appears to only Chase. Chase knows a thing or two about death. His parents died pretty recently and now he lives in New York City with his cool Auntie Lea. This is new to him and new to her, and his problems aren’t being helped much by the appearance of this little ghost. For some reason it appears to him best inside the Main location of New York Public Library. To solve the mystery, Trace isn’t just going to have to go into the ghost’s history. He’s going to go into his own, and what he finds may be just what he needs.
Why do kids like ghost stories and why do adults? And is it for the same reasons at all? The danger with any ghost story is that it makes for a useful literary device. So when adults use ghosts, like in Toni Morrison’s Beloved, it both fulfills our ancient fear of the unknown and provides a perfect metaphor. Now I’m not saying that Trace is the middle grade equivalent of Beloved, though there are certain similarities. Black family history. Personal tragedy. Ghost children. Overwhelming grief. But to her credit Pat Cummings also makes sure to put in plenty of the ghost stuff that kids want. Which is to say, the hair-on-the-back-of-your-neck-going-up spookiness. There’s the initial appearance of the little ghost boy in the stacks. There’s an encounter in the library involving ghostly flames and heat. And then there are the more eerie moments. An old woman at a party showing up later in an ancient photograph. The reveal that Trace got out of a sinking car where every window and door was sealed closed. This isn’t a jump scare book. It’s more akin to the Twilight Zone than Poltergeist, but that doesn’t matter. If you write ghosts, kids will come.
Cummings makes the interesting choice of starting out the book with Trace as a pretty darn unlikeable kid. Sure, he’s been through trauma, but when you’re writing a novel, there’s an instinct to make your hero relatable right from the get-go. Cummings holds back a bit, at least at first. Trace is sinking, and he isn’t doing anything to save himself. You can hardly blame the other kids in his group project for disliking him since he’s been blowing off work for a while. But what’s the number one way to get an audience to identify with a character? Make them the subject of unfair treatment. So as more events conspire against Trace, you feel for him. And even as that happens, Cummings slowly reveals his backstory with a little piece here and a little piece there. Therapy sessions can make for dull reading, but they can also be magnificent expository delivery systems. Does Trace seem to recover a bit quickly from his own personal trauma in this story? You betcha. But at least you get the sense that he may still have some work to do in the future as well.
Confession: I have a personal connection to this book. That makes reviewing it a bit weird, but does it help at all that I didn’t remember the connection until I was done? Years ago I used to work in the main location of New York Public Library. For fun, I liked to show folks the “stacks” which is the fascinating interior and underground portions of the library where all the Reference books were kept. One of the people I showed around was author Pat Cummings, and along the way we got to talking about the old Colored Orphan Asylum. Pat had read somewhere that the library was built on top of the Asylum’s ashes, but any map will show you that this was impossible. Go into the depths of the library today and you can see the real structure that existed before the library came into existence: the reservoir. Those ancient stones provide the foundation for much of the library today. So as I read this and discovered that Pat had used some creative license to reposition the Asylum under the library, I was surprised. Unfortunately, the version of the book that I was reading didn’t include the Acknowledgments at the back, and I couldn’t very well critique the book if I didn’t have all of it in front of me. You can imagine my relief then when I got ahold of a final copy and read the very first lines in the Acknowledgment section where Pat declares the Asylum’s location in the book to be “not true”, following it up with, “But if you’ve ever visited the shadowy stacks below that Fifth Avenue landmark, it would be easy to believe that ghosts wander among its shelves of exiled books.” Smells nice too, by the way. No one ever mentions that.
Too often, ghosts get confined to countrysides. Meanwhile, you have places like New York City where the history just piles up on top of itself, year after year after year. In her Acknowledgments Cumming writes, “Reality is a slippery thing.” Nowhere is that more true than in the stories we tell about ourselves and about the ghosts of our past that continue to haunt us. With Trace, Ms. Cummings takes time to examine what we owe our ancestors, even as we try to live our daily lives. We live with their decisions, whether we want to or not, and sometimes we relive their mistakes. Reading this book, young readers will encounter a more thoughtful ghost story than those I downed so mindlessly in the past. It’s a ghost story that asks you to stop and listen to the voices that are dead but not gone. Who are the ghosts that haunt your story? And what are they trying to tell you?
For ages 9-12.
What do you do when you see a ghost? Not a big scary sheet that flies around saying “Boo” or anything. More like a boy. A little boy, with a runny nose, who appears to only Chase. Chase knows a thing or two about death. His parents died pretty recently and now he lives in New York City with his cool Auntie Lea. This is new to him and new to her, and his problems aren’t being helped much by the appearance of this little ghost. For some reason it appears to him best inside the Main location of New York Public Library. To solve the mystery, Trace isn’t just going to have to go into the ghost’s history. He’s going to go into his own, and what he finds may be just what he needs.
Why do kids like ghost stories and why do adults? And is it for the same reasons at all? The danger with any ghost story is that it makes for a useful literary device. So when adults use ghosts, like in Toni Morrison’s Beloved, it both fulfills our ancient fear of the unknown and provides a perfect metaphor. Now I’m not saying that Trace is the middle grade equivalent of Beloved, though there are certain similarities. Black family history. Personal tragedy. Ghost children. Overwhelming grief. But to her credit Pat Cummings also makes sure to put in plenty of the ghost stuff that kids want. Which is to say, the hair-on-the-back-of-your-neck-going-up spookiness. There’s the initial appearance of the little ghost boy in the stacks. There’s an encounter in the library involving ghostly flames and heat. And then there are the more eerie moments. An old woman at a party showing up later in an ancient photograph. The reveal that Trace got out of a sinking car where every window and door was sealed closed. This isn’t a jump scare book. It’s more akin to the Twilight Zone than Poltergeist, but that doesn’t matter. If you write ghosts, kids will come.
Cummings makes the interesting choice of starting out the book with Trace as a pretty darn unlikeable kid. Sure, he’s been through trauma, but when you’re writing a novel, there’s an instinct to make your hero relatable right from the get-go. Cummings holds back a bit, at least at first. Trace is sinking, and he isn’t doing anything to save himself. You can hardly blame the other kids in his group project for disliking him since he’s been blowing off work for a while. But what’s the number one way to get an audience to identify with a character? Make them the subject of unfair treatment. So as more events conspire against Trace, you feel for him. And even as that happens, Cummings slowly reveals his backstory with a little piece here and a little piece there. Therapy sessions can make for dull reading, but they can also be magnificent expository delivery systems. Does Trace seem to recover a bit quickly from his own personal trauma in this story? You betcha. But at least you get the sense that he may still have some work to do in the future as well.
Confession: I have a personal connection to this book. That makes reviewing it a bit weird, but does it help at all that I didn’t remember the connection until I was done? Years ago I used to work in the main location of New York Public Library. For fun, I liked to show folks the “stacks” which is the fascinating interior and underground portions of the library where all the Reference books were kept. One of the people I showed around was author Pat Cummings, and along the way we got to talking about the old Colored Orphan Asylum. Pat had read somewhere that the library was built on top of the Asylum’s ashes, but any map will show you that this was impossible. Go into the depths of the library today and you can see the real structure that existed before the library came into existence: the reservoir. Those ancient stones provide the foundation for much of the library today. So as I read this and discovered that Pat had used some creative license to reposition the Asylum under the library, I was surprised. Unfortunately, the version of the book that I was reading didn’t include the Acknowledgments at the back, and I couldn’t very well critique the book if I didn’t have all of it in front of me. You can imagine my relief then when I got ahold of a final copy and read the very first lines in the Acknowledgment section where Pat declares the Asylum’s location in the book to be “not true”, following it up with, “But if you’ve ever visited the shadowy stacks below that Fifth Avenue landmark, it would be easy to believe that ghosts wander among its shelves of exiled books.” Smells nice too, by the way. No one ever mentions that.
Too often, ghosts get confined to countrysides. Meanwhile, you have places like New York City where the history just piles up on top of itself, year after year after year. In her Acknowledgments Cumming writes, “Reality is a slippery thing.” Nowhere is that more true than in the stories we tell about ourselves and about the ghosts of our past that continue to haunt us. With Trace, Ms. Cummings takes time to examine what we owe our ancestors, even as we try to live our daily lives. We live with their decisions, whether we want to or not, and sometimes we relive their mistakes. Reading this book, young readers will encounter a more thoughtful ghost story than those I downed so mindlessly in the past. It’s a ghost story that asks you to stop and listen to the voices that are dead but not gone. Who are the ghosts that haunt your story? And what are they trying to tell you?
For ages 9-12.
did-not-finish
April 2, 2019I got 2% in and the teacher being fat was mentioned 3 times.
For instance:
"The teacher had squeezed her wide hips into the swivel chair behind her desk, a chair that had long ago surrendered under the weight of her failed diets. Listing to one side, it creaked in pain as, with a weary sigh, the teacher leveled her eyes upon him and rested her chins atop the vase."
I search her name and it's all about how disgusting she is that she got a cold. Yeah, this one isn't for me.
For instance:
"The teacher had squeezed her wide hips into the swivel chair behind her desk, a chair that had long ago surrendered under the weight of her failed diets. Listing to one side, it creaked in pain as, with a weary sigh, the teacher leveled her eyes upon him and rested her chins atop the vase."
I search her name and it's all about how disgusting she is that she got a cold. Yeah, this one isn't for me.
October 14, 2019
three and a half stars, rounded up....I'd have liked it more if the ghost part of the story was more centered, and the quirky girl classmate was a bit over the top...but there was tremendous emotional cohesion to the ensemble, and I appreciated the history part of it (though again, I'd have liked more of it!)
January 6, 2019
Great middle grades selection with a mix of ghost story, tragedy and friend drama rounded out with a touch of sad-happy/feel-good thrown in. Trace is still deeply traumatized by his parents’s death and struggling to fit in at his new school as well as find his way in seeing his ditzy aunt in her new role as his guardian. Cummings gives readers a very likeable main character who reveals strong emotions and behaves in a way that most 5th-8th graders will understand. Strong supporting characters make this a solid fiction choice for that age group. The book is free of profanity and violence, but does have one passage when Trace muses about the sexual orientation of two of his aunt’s friends and wonders, if they are lesbians, what they “do together.” This small passage in no way connects to the plot and is likely included to demonstrate diversity among the book’s characters which is already done very smoothly as racial differences abound in the author’s cast. Thanks for the dARC, Edelweiss.
March 4, 2023
A complex, warmly told story of loss and family, with a terrific ghost story thrown in to knit the threads together. Trace has lost both his parents in a car accident, where both his parents drowned and he inexplicably survived. He now lives with his aunt in Brooklyn and is both grieving and adjusting to the new living situation he finds himself in. As school begins he makes a few friends and works once a week with a therapist. Interweaving the 1860's history of the burning of a black orphanage on the site of what today is the main branch of the New York City library, Trace's PTSD and grief, the ghost of a relative who died as a child in the orphanage fire, and the slow build of feeling at home in his new life through friends and experience, the masterful plot resolves in a satisfactory end, with just the right touch of partying, new love, old wrongs made right, and acceptance. Great moments of humor leaven the heavy plot elements and all of the characters, especially the kids, are vivid individuals. A wonderful debut.
October 26, 2021
Although l felt it became a tad predictable, I devoured the beautiful story of weaving together the past, the way past, and the present. I enjoyed it until the very last page!
July 16, 2022
Any girl, anywhere in the story: (Does or says something, no matter how common)
Trace: "I guess I just have to come to terms with the fact that I will NEVER UNDERSTAND GIRLS."
Seriously, I get that I have a sore spot around these kinds of remarks, but there were like 10-12 of them! It was constant! I was so confused--the story is trying to bring awareness to the suffering of young black children in the 1860s through a ghost story centered around a forgotten historical tragedy (brilliant idea and I was ready to love it) but then the sexism is just...relentless. The narrative makes fun of the teacher over and over for being fat and for I guess having a cold one day? Trace seems to have a crush on every unrelated female who enters the story except one girl who is repeatedly framed as "childish" because I guess she's kind of unusual and not taken seriously even though she's their peer. They do become friends, but it feels like Trace is always affectionately laughing at her inside, which I guess works if you're watching your three-year-old child do something weird at a family picnic like "I'm not sure why he does that flamingo dance but we love him the way he is!" but just comes across as condescending between same-aged peers.
Characters are stereotypes: mean girl classmate the protagonist inexplicably has a crush on who will eventually be won over by his coolness in some dramatic moment, "nerd" girl who literally speaks using lengthy thesaurus terms in every sentence, alleged best friend who is emotionally unavailable the whole time and only exists to become pointlessly outraged for a ridiculous amount of time because Trace (surprise!) left him alone . . . to work on a school project . . . with TWO GIRLS OH GOD HOW COULD TRACE ABANDON HIM LIKE THAT? MAKE HIM SPEAK TO GIRLS LIKE THAT? Certainly an offense worthy of weeks of silence. I kept thinking any of this bizarre girl-themed behavior would be challenged, but no, never. No acknowledgement whatsoever that maybe girls aren't one giant homogenous entity and therefore maybe "I can't predict the exact behavior of every girl I see while barely even knowing them" isn't a big shocker.
And oh man. The consent. It is missing, my friends. Trace has a Moment with a neighbor girl he thinks is pretty, wonders if she's going in for a kiss, accidentally touches lips with her, and then decides to "act confident" and just kiss her for real "just in case" she did it on purpose. And then she just laughs and doesn't care! Even though she says she didn't want to kiss him and was just grabbing something nearby! Later there's a big concert at Trace's house and he gets called onstage to sing with an adult woman who flirts with him repeatedly (?????) kisses him on the cheek repeatedly (?!?!?!) and then kisses him ON THE MOUTH (!!!!!) in front of this living room crowd of adults who know Trace personally and everyone is just cool with it I guess? It's treated like Trace is into it because she's hot and famous and not like the gross predatory overreach that it actually is? I was so agog here I almost didn't finish. And then. And then! The neighbor girl shows up and kisses Trace on the mouth "just as friends" at this same party for . . . whatever? reasons? who the frick knows at this point? Why are so many people randomly kissing each other as a joke?
The concept of this book was so, so cool. Boy trying to heal from the traumatic loss of both parents navigates the rocky road to healing through actual ghost encounters with figures from his own ancient history. That sounds awesome, right? I so wish that most of the story had been about that instead of about Trace's strange personal dramas with characters that just didn't resonate with me. In the end he's just Over It even though he's suffered an earth-shattering loss, and okay, middle grade likes it's hopeful endings, but even the good parts of this book felt like they didn't quite hold together. Trace spent too much time acting detached from the ghost thing. I get it was a coping mechanism, but you can't have your main character go from "eh, I kinda just want to act like it never happened, I have bigger things to worry about" to "ghost plot is happily resolved!" so fast. Random adults got involved, they did half the work anyway, Trace just kinda floated through the story on its surface. I'd love to read a very different version of this idea; this version was a little too casually mean to its entire supporting cast.
Trace: "I guess I just have to come to terms with the fact that I will NEVER UNDERSTAND GIRLS."
Seriously, I get that I have a sore spot around these kinds of remarks, but there were like 10-12 of them! It was constant! I was so confused--the story is trying to bring awareness to the suffering of young black children in the 1860s through a ghost story centered around a forgotten historical tragedy (brilliant idea and I was ready to love it) but then the sexism is just...relentless. The narrative makes fun of the teacher over and over for being fat and for I guess having a cold one day? Trace seems to have a crush on every unrelated female who enters the story except one girl who is repeatedly framed as "childish" because I guess she's kind of unusual and not taken seriously even though she's their peer. They do become friends, but it feels like Trace is always affectionately laughing at her inside, which I guess works if you're watching your three-year-old child do something weird at a family picnic like "I'm not sure why he does that flamingo dance but we love him the way he is!" but just comes across as condescending between same-aged peers.
Characters are stereotypes: mean girl classmate the protagonist inexplicably has a crush on who will eventually be won over by his coolness in some dramatic moment, "nerd" girl who literally speaks using lengthy thesaurus terms in every sentence, alleged best friend who is emotionally unavailable the whole time and only exists to become pointlessly outraged for a ridiculous amount of time because Trace (surprise!) left him alone . . . to work on a school project . . . with TWO GIRLS OH GOD HOW COULD TRACE ABANDON HIM LIKE THAT? MAKE HIM SPEAK TO GIRLS LIKE THAT? Certainly an offense worthy of weeks of silence. I kept thinking any of this bizarre girl-themed behavior would be challenged, but no, never. No acknowledgement whatsoever that maybe girls aren't one giant homogenous entity and therefore maybe "I can't predict the exact behavior of every girl I see while barely even knowing them" isn't a big shocker.
And oh man. The consent. It is missing, my friends. Trace has a Moment with a neighbor girl he thinks is pretty, wonders if she's going in for a kiss, accidentally touches lips with her, and then decides to "act confident" and just kiss her for real "just in case" she did it on purpose. And then she just laughs and doesn't care! Even though she says she didn't want to kiss him and was just grabbing something nearby! Later there's a big concert at Trace's house and he gets called onstage to sing with an adult woman who flirts with him repeatedly (?????) kisses him on the cheek repeatedly (?!?!?!) and then kisses him ON THE MOUTH (!!!!!) in front of this living room crowd of adults who know Trace personally and everyone is just cool with it I guess? It's treated like Trace is into it because she's hot and famous and not like the gross predatory overreach that it actually is? I was so agog here I almost didn't finish. And then. And then! The neighbor girl shows up and kisses Trace on the mouth "just as friends" at this same party for . . . whatever? reasons? who the frick knows at this point? Why are so many people randomly kissing each other as a joke?
The concept of this book was so, so cool. Boy trying to heal from the traumatic loss of both parents navigates the rocky road to healing through actual ghost encounters with figures from his own ancient history. That sounds awesome, right? I so wish that most of the story had been about that instead of about Trace's strange personal dramas with characters that just didn't resonate with me. In the end he's just Over It even though he's suffered an earth-shattering loss, and okay, middle grade likes it's hopeful endings, but even the good parts of this book felt like they didn't quite hold together. Trace spent too much time acting detached from the ghost thing. I get it was a coping mechanism, but you can't have your main character go from "eh, I kinda just want to act like it never happened, I have bigger things to worry about" to "ghost plot is happily resolved!" so fast. Random adults got involved, they did half the work anyway, Trace just kinda floated through the story on its surface. I'd love to read a very different version of this idea; this version was a little too casually mean to its entire supporting cast.
June 15, 2019
Find my full review here: http://www.yabookscentral.com/kidsfic...
TRACE is a book about healing. Trace lives with his Auntie Lea after his parents died in a car accident which he miraculously survived. He is floundering a bit in school and life, mainly due to PTSD symptoms that have him remembering and reliving the car accident. He visits a psychologist, Dr. Proctor, who helps him to cope with these feelings. He has recently been assigned a school project to study and present the 1860s to his class.
As part of this, he goes to the New York Public Library where he ends up finding a boy crying. He soon notices that the boy is transparent- a ghost. As part of his research, he learns about a riot where people burned down the Colored Orphan Asylum and a child may have died. He digs deeper into this trying to understand if this could be the child who died. As he navigates therapy and his school project, he also learns more about the boy he has seen and his family history.
What I loved: The ghost was a relatively small part of the story, but the history lesson was really interesting. We learn a lot through Trace as he investigates. This is also an interesting portrayal of grief, PTSD and the slow recovery of healing in a middle grade book. I really liked how they showed some of the therapy sessions, which is great for young readers to view.
There are also some themes about racism in modern (and historical) America. When Trace reports the ghost as a lost child (before he is fully sure that the boy is a ghost) and the security guards cannot find him, they detain him and confiscate his phone. His aunt discusses this with him in a way that young readers can understand.
What left me wanting more: There were a few comments that were really unnecessary and I wish had been left out or handled more fully/deeply. The first are around the comments about the librarian and the way the boys talk about her body, which felt unnecessary to her description and a bit close to sexual harassment. The second is when an older woman comments about men in general negatively, and Trace assumes she is a lesbian before she mentions her husband. This is not further explained and seemed a little odd or stereotyping.
Final verdict: Overall, this is an interesting story that combines history with the present. The ghost adds an interesting element to the book that gives it an air of mystery. I would recommend for people looking for lightly supernatural stories/mysteries and books about healing.
TRACE is a book about healing. Trace lives with his Auntie Lea after his parents died in a car accident which he miraculously survived. He is floundering a bit in school and life, mainly due to PTSD symptoms that have him remembering and reliving the car accident. He visits a psychologist, Dr. Proctor, who helps him to cope with these feelings. He has recently been assigned a school project to study and present the 1860s to his class.
As part of this, he goes to the New York Public Library where he ends up finding a boy crying. He soon notices that the boy is transparent- a ghost. As part of his research, he learns about a riot where people burned down the Colored Orphan Asylum and a child may have died. He digs deeper into this trying to understand if this could be the child who died. As he navigates therapy and his school project, he also learns more about the boy he has seen and his family history.
What I loved: The ghost was a relatively small part of the story, but the history lesson was really interesting. We learn a lot through Trace as he investigates. This is also an interesting portrayal of grief, PTSD and the slow recovery of healing in a middle grade book. I really liked how they showed some of the therapy sessions, which is great for young readers to view.
There are also some themes about racism in modern (and historical) America. When Trace reports the ghost as a lost child (before he is fully sure that the boy is a ghost) and the security guards cannot find him, they detain him and confiscate his phone. His aunt discusses this with him in a way that young readers can understand.
What left me wanting more: There were a few comments that were really unnecessary and I wish had been left out or handled more fully/deeply. The first are around the comments about the librarian and the way the boys talk about her body, which felt unnecessary to her description and a bit close to sexual harassment. The second is when an older woman comments about men in general negatively, and Trace assumes she is a lesbian before she mentions her husband. This is not further explained and seemed a little odd or stereotyping.
Final verdict: Overall, this is an interesting story that combines history with the present. The ghost adds an interesting element to the book that gives it an air of mystery. I would recommend for people looking for lightly supernatural stories/mysteries and books about healing.
May 14, 2019
A compelling ghost story that neatly weaves in the grief process Trace is going through as he processes his parents' death.
Things I loved: Cholly as a little boy ghost was appropriately creepy. Making him very little and sobbing upped the ante for me, allowing him to be enigmatic and confusing in a realistic way, rather than just because we don't want the ghost to tell us everything.
The pacing was good, I always wanted to keep reading. The interactions between the middle school characters felt real, the petty hurts and aggravations, the awkwardness between the kids.
While it's a huge coincidence that Trace manages to have the rattle, and the letter, and be in the basement of the NYPL all within a week, I did like that there was a personal connection that helped to explain why Trace was being haunted.
Things I wish were slightly different: His aunt was a bit manic pixie, and while I know that people exist in real life that are whimsical and make bosom friends with strangers and whatnot, she sometimes lapsed into a stereotype for me.
I didn't like the handful of disdainful references to fatness. It wasn't awful, but it was enough that I noticed. I'm also not sure how I feel about how Trace just assumes that two close friends are lesbians and when one says "all men are dangerous" his first thought is "so she WAS a lesbian". This is immediately followed by the discovery that Vesper has a husband, so it is refuted by the text and part of the point is that several things Trace assumes that day are not true, but it still felt odd to me, and nothing is said to counter the "all lesbians hate men" message that it seems to be sending.
Things I loved: Cholly as a little boy ghost was appropriately creepy. Making him very little and sobbing upped the ante for me, allowing him to be enigmatic and confusing in a realistic way, rather than just because we don't want the ghost to tell us everything.
The pacing was good, I always wanted to keep reading. The interactions between the middle school characters felt real, the petty hurts and aggravations, the awkwardness between the kids.
While it's a huge coincidence that Trace manages to have the rattle, and the letter, and be in the basement of the NYPL all within a week, I did like that there was a personal connection that helped to explain why Trace was being haunted.
Things I wish were slightly different: His aunt was a bit manic pixie, and while I know that people exist in real life that are whimsical and make bosom friends with strangers and whatnot, she sometimes lapsed into a stereotype for me.
I didn't like the handful of disdainful references to fatness. It wasn't awful, but it was enough that I noticed. I'm also not sure how I feel about how Trace just assumes that two close friends are lesbians and when one says "all men are dangerous" his first thought is "so she WAS a lesbian". This is immediately followed by the discovery that Vesper has a husband, so it is refuted by the text and part of the point is that several things Trace assumes that day are not true, but it still felt odd to me, and nothing is said to counter the "all lesbians hate men" message that it seems to be sending.
September 21, 2018
Starts out with a semi-typical kid surviving loss and massive displacement, getting used to a new school, but quickly introduces some genuinely creepy ghost encounters, that then weave throughout the book. Masterful storytelling that allows Trace's relationships to slowly unfold as he gets used to his new surroundings.
Trace is a middle-schooler (12? I think? 6th or 7th grader? I can't remember if this was specified), who has just been picked to lead a group project on the the decade of US history in the 1860s. The group project ends up leading him to the New York Public Library, where Trace has an experience that alienates him from his classmates and shakes up his understanding of the world. I don't want to put spoilers in here, because there's some interesting and delicate plot shifts, and it's cool to see everything gradually connect. Highlights for me: Trace's colorful aunt, with her eclectic crowd of Brooklyn friends and her deep love of exploratory cooking; mean girl comeuppance; kids being kids in the awkward beginning of romance age; Trace's journey to healing as he comes to terms with the recent deaths of his parents and his own survival; particularly vivid and sometimes dreamlike scenes, beautifully conveyed; a really cool take on finding what interests you in history and making it relatable. Enjoyable read.
Advanced Reader's copy provided by Edelweiss.
Trace is a middle-schooler (12? I think? 6th or 7th grader? I can't remember if this was specified), who has just been picked to lead a group project on the the decade of US history in the 1860s. The group project ends up leading him to the New York Public Library, where Trace has an experience that alienates him from his classmates and shakes up his understanding of the world. I don't want to put spoilers in here, because there's some interesting and delicate plot shifts, and it's cool to see everything gradually connect. Highlights for me: Trace's colorful aunt, with her eclectic crowd of Brooklyn friends and her deep love of exploratory cooking; mean girl comeuppance; kids being kids in the awkward beginning of romance age; Trace's journey to healing as he comes to terms with the recent deaths of his parents and his own survival; particularly vivid and sometimes dreamlike scenes, beautifully conveyed; a really cool take on finding what interests you in history and making it relatable. Enjoyable read.
Advanced Reader's copy provided by Edelweiss.
July 8, 2019
I really, really wanted to like this book. I had high hopes for it and wanted it to be something as magical as Rhodes Ghost Boys . Sadly, this was not that strong of a book. It was still a decent story, but there were times where the characterization faltered and it tried to deal with too many things at once. While Trace is struggling to come to terms with his parents' deaths and his survival after a car crash, his "dealing" with it is glossed over. The ghosts that should be central to the story are seen in flashes/glimpses and his thoughts about them are confusing, and written in a way that doesn't help the reader to understand. The strong points of this book are the historical aspects of the 1860s that his class group researches, but the main one (the arson at the Colored Orphans Asylum) isn't completely factual as the author alludes to in her note at the end: there she states that the location she uses in the book (the New York Public Library) is not actually where the orphanage was originally housed, even though that is the crux of her story. So, there's that.
Overall, this is an OK book and one to hand to readers who are interested in magical realism and ghosts who aren't scary. I'd say the ideal age would be readers between 5th and 7th. Definitely a second purchase for larger collections.
Overall, this is an OK book and one to hand to readers who are interested in magical realism and ghosts who aren't scary. I'd say the ideal age would be readers between 5th and 7th. Definitely a second purchase for larger collections.
December 9, 2019
This novel—by a different Pat Cummings than this reviewer—was surprisingly delightful. The cover intro lead me to expect a Sixth Sense kind of drama, but the ghost that Trace encounters in the library is a single manifestation. The story is less about seeing ghosts than coming to terms with loss and tragedy in our lives, and the healing power of family and friends to support us through a nightmare.
I admit I bought this book because the author's name is the same as mine, and did not have high expectations for what was obviously a story meant for young adult or younger readers. However, what I found inside its pages was a truly engrossing story, plus rich stew of references and puns that will appeal to the older reader, as well as a well-told, if minor, mystery with plenty of clues and a great satisfaction in its resolution.
I admit I bought this book because the author's name is the same as mine, and did not have high expectations for what was obviously a story meant for young adult or younger readers. However, what I found inside its pages was a truly engrossing story, plus rich stew of references and puns that will appeal to the older reader, as well as a well-told, if minor, mystery with plenty of clues and a great satisfaction in its resolution.
November 13, 2021
This book has me torn, because I adore so many elements of the story, but kept getting hung up on certain details that were peppered throughout the novel. Trace’s story, his own tragedy, his life with his aunt, the ties to his family history, the exposure of past racial injustices, the bonds of family both living and dead- were all so lovely, brilliant, and emotional. But, Cummings’ attempt to add levity through comedy fell short when it relied heavily on deeply fatphobic observations of certain characters, cringey moments of junior high students lusting after the school librarian, and Trace’s failed attempts at suave moves with the love interests in his life. These all were so completely unnecessary, weren’t funny, and seemed out of step with the rest of the story. I wish the author would have just kept the focus on the main plots, which were so well done and moving.
September 28, 2019
https://raisethemrighteous.com/2019/0...
A series of interrelated events assemble to create a haunting tale of intergenerational salvation in Pat Cummings’ debut middle-grade novel Trace. The title character loses his loving parents in a car crash that he miraculously survives and mistakenly blames himself for causing.
Trace moves to Brooklyn to live with his aunt, Lea, an artsy and kind woman who doesn’t have much experience with children but makes up for it with compassion.
At his new school, Trace is slow to make friends, although when assigned to a group presenting about the 1860s in his history class, he forms motley alliances that develop into friendships with his groupmates Ty, Presley, and Kali. Then when researching for this project at the library, he gets lost and sees a ghost as well as a kind man, Dallas, who ends up becoming an important part of his life. What seems like chance encounters are actually exquisitely scripted as spiritual and material realms become increasingly intertwined.
This is a wonderfully entertaining read with a racially and ethnically diverse cast of characters, beautifully rendered urban setting, and subtle engagement with current and historical social issues that conjure parallels between historical and contemporary racial realities.
I’m certainly looking forward to Cummings next middle-grade novel – here’s hoping one’s in the works!
A series of interrelated events assemble to create a haunting tale of intergenerational salvation in Pat Cummings’ debut middle-grade novel Trace. The title character loses his loving parents in a car crash that he miraculously survives and mistakenly blames himself for causing.
Trace moves to Brooklyn to live with his aunt, Lea, an artsy and kind woman who doesn’t have much experience with children but makes up for it with compassion.
At his new school, Trace is slow to make friends, although when assigned to a group presenting about the 1860s in his history class, he forms motley alliances that develop into friendships with his groupmates Ty, Presley, and Kali. Then when researching for this project at the library, he gets lost and sees a ghost as well as a kind man, Dallas, who ends up becoming an important part of his life. What seems like chance encounters are actually exquisitely scripted as spiritual and material realms become increasingly intertwined.
This is a wonderfully entertaining read with a racially and ethnically diverse cast of characters, beautifully rendered urban setting, and subtle engagement with current and historical social issues that conjure parallels between historical and contemporary racial realities.
I’m certainly looking forward to Cummings next middle-grade novel – here’s hoping one’s in the works!
July 5, 2019
I think many young readers will like "Trace", but there were a few things that tripped me up, making it a "3-star" book.
After losing both his parents in a car accident, Trace goes to live with his (single) aunt in another city (New York? Bronx? I think I missed that detail). Trace was also a passenger in the car when his parents died, but somehow he walked away largely unscathed -- aside from the nightmares and moments of feeling not quite fully present. Despite his aunt's best intentions, and the fact that he sees a therapist weekly, Trace is not ready to discuss the events of that terrible day -- until he makes an unusual friend and finds another kid who needs his help.
Parts of this story are pretty "trippy", for lack of a better word. Often, I was not sure whether Trace was dreaming or fully awake, and that was a bit unsettling. Parts of his aunt's "free" lifestyle concerned me, and made me worry that Trace might be in danger just because of his surroundings. I had to read back and forth several times, because I felt I had missed some piece of important information, only to find it wasn't there at all.
Still, it is a story that ends up coming full circle, and the themes of home and family, making new friends, and the main character's perseverance in the face of adversity make this a decent story for middle grade kiddos.
After losing both his parents in a car accident, Trace goes to live with his (single) aunt in another city (New York? Bronx? I think I missed that detail). Trace was also a passenger in the car when his parents died, but somehow he walked away largely unscathed -- aside from the nightmares and moments of feeling not quite fully present. Despite his aunt's best intentions, and the fact that he sees a therapist weekly, Trace is not ready to discuss the events of that terrible day -- until he makes an unusual friend and finds another kid who needs his help.
Parts of this story are pretty "trippy", for lack of a better word. Often, I was not sure whether Trace was dreaming or fully awake, and that was a bit unsettling. Parts of his aunt's "free" lifestyle concerned me, and made me worry that Trace might be in danger just because of his surroundings. I had to read back and forth several times, because I felt I had missed some piece of important information, only to find it wasn't there at all.
Still, it is a story that ends up coming full circle, and the themes of home and family, making new friends, and the main character's perseverance in the face of adversity make this a decent story for middle grade kiddos.
January 7, 2020
I knocked a star off for fat shaming within the first few pages that was repeated later, and calling a girl "exotic."
Trace is struggling with the death of his parents in a car accident they were all in and not really settling into his new home with his aunt or his new school, when he's assigned a speech on the 1860s and learns about the draft riots of 1863 that may be the reason he sees a tiny little boy ghost now.
Overall, I greatly enjoyed the mystery, the ghosts, and Trace and his aunt. I almost didn't keep going with the opening pages fat shaming (the teacher's chair had "long ago surrendered under the weight of her failed diets," for example. Disparaging descriptions of her wide hips, double chins, and how disgusting her cold made her), but I'm mostly glad I did. That poor little baby boy, though, small scarred hands and crying, all alone, really broke my heart.
Everything came together fairly neatly, though I had not at all predicted the twist about Melissa at the end. I was confused by Presley, though: early on she talked about her THING, and mentioned seeing a a young boy with Trace as he walked, and there were all these hints that she saw ghosts, but she seemed surprised at the end? It was like the author forgot the earlier hints.
Trace is struggling with the death of his parents in a car accident they were all in and not really settling into his new home with his aunt or his new school, when he's assigned a speech on the 1860s and learns about the draft riots of 1863 that may be the reason he sees a tiny little boy ghost now.
Overall, I greatly enjoyed the mystery, the ghosts, and Trace and his aunt. I almost didn't keep going with the opening pages fat shaming (the teacher's chair had "long ago surrendered under the weight of her failed diets," for example. Disparaging descriptions of her wide hips, double chins, and how disgusting her cold made her), but I'm mostly glad I did. That poor little baby boy, though, small scarred hands and crying, all alone, really broke my heart.
Everything came together fairly neatly, though I had not at all predicted the twist about Melissa at the end. I was confused by Presley, though: early on she talked about her THING, and mentioned seeing a a young boy with Trace as he walked, and there were all these hints that she saw ghosts, but she seemed surprised at the end? It was like the author forgot the earlier hints.
August 4, 2019
Trace Carter miraculously survived a car accident that claimed both his parents. Now he lives with his aunt in a new city and attend a new school, all the while dealing with the the recurring dreams of the accident. Assigned to a group project in History, Trace manages to get lost in the New York Public library where he was to meet his group. In the shadowy stacks, he comes across a lost little boy, crying, raggedly dressed and way too little to be on his own. Then Trace realizes, no one else can see the boy.
Cummings works a lot into this quiet book. It is a ghost story but it is also a story about grief, healing, friendship and family. Along the way readers learn a lot about the history of the 1863 Draft Riots and the tragedy of the Colored Orphan Asylum fire and the interconnected nature of history.
The characters and relationships in the story are engaging and Trace is a sympathetic character readers will root for. The historical elements and the ghost story set this apart and add another level of interest that will keep kids turning the pages to find out what happens.
Cummings works a lot into this quiet book. It is a ghost story but it is also a story about grief, healing, friendship and family. Along the way readers learn a lot about the history of the 1863 Draft Riots and the tragedy of the Colored Orphan Asylum fire and the interconnected nature of history.
The characters and relationships in the story are engaging and Trace is a sympathetic character readers will root for. The historical elements and the ghost story set this apart and add another level of interest that will keep kids turning the pages to find out what happens.
January 28, 2020
Theodore Roosevelt Carter or Trace as he prefers to be called is mired in grief, his every step is dragging him down to the river bottom again and again. Grief at surviving a crash that took his parents that he somehow miraculously survived. Every day is a struggle for Trace to care and to be present in his surroundings. His only friend Ty is pulling away because Trace is constantly caught up in the visceral memory of the car accident. Trace is constantly reliving the feel and smell of the river water in his mouth. It is a constant nightmare both waking and asleep that waits for Trace.
After receiving a history assignment at school on the 1860’s. Trace and three classmates meet at the New York Public Library for research. While lost in the stacks Trace comes face to face with a child that is clearly a ghost.
Pat Cummings does a good job of keeping you interested in the character and pours the suspense on with the ghost child. The way she ties the past and present characters together is fascinating.
After receiving a history assignment at school on the 1860’s. Trace and three classmates meet at the New York Public Library for research. While lost in the stacks Trace comes face to face with a child that is clearly a ghost.
Pat Cummings does a good job of keeping you interested in the character and pours the suspense on with the ghost child. The way she ties the past and present characters together is fascinating.
July 13, 2021
I liked this book. I enjoyed the idea of the story, the characters, and how the different plot points are tied together.
However, I do have a few things to complain about.
I didn't like the pacing of it at first. It starts off slow and doesn't get super interesting until the (spoilers) second or third time Trace (the main character) sees the ghost.
I also didn't like the off-handed, kind of insulting remarks about lesbians, being overweight, and "never understanding girls" and what they do. I think that could have been edited out or handled better, especially as it doesn't add anything to the plot.
I didn't find it all that engaging until right near the end, especially because the way Trace has these flashbacks, and how many things are described in general sometimes makes the whole scene hazy, and you're not quite sure if it's a dream or if it's real or one of his flashbacks.
Overall, it's not something I'd re-read. I guess it just wasn't for me. I don't regret reading it, but I didn't like it enough to re-read it.
However, I do have a few things to complain about.
I didn't like the pacing of it at first. It starts off slow and doesn't get super interesting until the (spoilers) second or third time Trace (the main character) sees the ghost.
I also didn't like the off-handed, kind of insulting remarks about lesbians, being overweight, and "never understanding girls" and what they do. I think that could have been edited out or handled better, especially as it doesn't add anything to the plot.
I didn't find it all that engaging until right near the end, especially because the way Trace has these flashbacks, and how many things are described in general sometimes makes the whole scene hazy, and you're not quite sure if it's a dream or if it's real or one of his flashbacks.
Overall, it's not something I'd re-read. I guess it just wasn't for me. I don't regret reading it, but I didn't like it enough to re-read it.
May 12, 2019
Trace Carter now lives in Brooklyn with his Aunt Lea. He is tormented by dreams of his parent's death and his miraculous, mysterious survival. At first he can't bear to face the tragedy or look at pictures of his parents. His therapist tried to help, but Trace just won't let her. He begins to settle and find friends in school, but it is in the New York Public library where he is research for a school assignment on the 1860's, he meets a ghost of a small child which start to turn him around. Aunt Lea is going through the possessions of a great , great aunt. She is trying to put together a family tree. At first Trace is uncomfortable with this endeavor, but as his research continues he feels that the ghost is tied to his family's past. This is a "ghost "s story, but so much more. Cummings makes real history of New York's past come alive. Trace's grief and healing are so realistic. A very worthwhile book.
September 23, 2019
(2 of 2 kid books I read this weekend) Trace by Pat Cummings is a non-spooky ghost story, meaning that it is about believing in the possibility of ghosts but not in a we-have-to-be-afraid-way.
Trace lost his family and now lives with his odd but lovable aunt. She has carved space for him in her apartment and in her food and friend and odd-job filled life. Trace is still plagued by nightmares about the accident that claimed the lives of his mom and dad. He’s also consumed with a group project at school, one focusing on the decade of the 1860s. As a result he’s spending time at the NYPL where he meets the ghost of a small boy. I don’t want to give too much away, but Trace realizes the ghost boy is more connected to his own life than he realized.
I think this book will require a stick-with-it reader. 5th grade +
3/5 stars. #iccsdlibs
Trace lost his family and now lives with his odd but lovable aunt. She has carved space for him in her apartment and in her food and friend and odd-job filled life. Trace is still plagued by nightmares about the accident that claimed the lives of his mom and dad. He’s also consumed with a group project at school, one focusing on the decade of the 1860s. As a result he’s spending time at the NYPL where he meets the ghost of a small boy. I don’t want to give too much away, but Trace realizes the ghost boy is more connected to his own life than he realized.
I think this book will require a stick-with-it reader. 5th grade +
3/5 stars. #iccsdlibs
November 21, 2019
The 3 stars are my personal reaction to the book, although I recognize that it is very well written and well crafted so for a different reader, this could easily be five stars. I appreciated the plot and liked the main characters very much, especially Auntie Lea. However, I just found myself thinking the book was very dense and feeling like I would never actually make progress although I was reading it every night. I also had a difficult time believing Trace - and all his teammates - would have been soooo concerned with putting together an awesome social studies project. It has been my experience, that most students don't care so deeply about an assignment & I wish the author would have given me more reasons to believe this aspect of the plot. I spent a lot of time in my head thinking "a real kid wouldn't care so much; what's up with this?".
May 15, 2019
A intricate and poignant coming-of-age tale centered around a boy named Trace grappling with loss, prickly friends, and ghosts!! There’s colorful characters galore, and Trace will have every reader wishing they had their own Aunt Lea! But beneath it all, is a haunting story, expertly dealing with trauma on many levels, from personal demons to historical ones. I loved the authenticity of Trace’s voice, and how he’s unafraid to navigate his thoughts and make sense of the world as he tries to find his place in it.
Highly recommended read! You’ll most likely do some googling, afterwards too—maybe even be so inspired to head over to your local library...
Highly recommended read! You’ll most likely do some googling, afterwards too—maybe even be so inspired to head over to your local library...
December 13, 2019
This is a wonderful New York story for middle grade and older readers, including adults. I'd encourage families to read it together as a great antidote to our electronically-induced isolation. Trace's tale moves from an ephemeral ghost-sighting to a grounding in personal pain and historical memory. His past is our past. It lies hidden, buried in the stacks, and a reading of this fine book will unearth it. It's not gory, not a kiddy fantasy. The characters are warm and amusing people you'll like. The prose is straight-ahead and at times poetic and very, very touching. A just right book. Highly recommended.
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June 14, 2020Trace Carter doesn’t know how to feel at ease in his new life in New York. Even though his artsy Auntie Lea is cool, her brownstone still isn’t his home. Haunted by flashbacks of the accident that killed his parents, the best he can do is try to distract himself from memories of the past. But the past isn’t done with him. When Trace takes a wrong turn in the New York Public Library, he finds someone else lost in the stacks with him: a crying little boy, wearing old, tattered clothes. And though at first he can’t quite believe he’s seen a ghost, Trace soon discovers that the boy he saw has ties to Trace’s own history—and that he himself may be the key to setting the dead to rest.
June 17, 2025
This book really made sure you were on the edge of your seat. The book follows a boy named Trace he has moved to New York to live with his aunty who is very optimistic almost too optimistic. Trace always gets haunted by the memories of his parents when they died in a car crash. One day He finds a poor boy in a public library. He later realizes he is a ghost and that he has a connection to his parent’s death. The description of the feelings in Traces’s mind when he heard his parents died is clearly describes so much so that we can understand it. This is a really good fiction book with a little mystery in it.
April 23, 2019
Trace is at a new middle school while living with his aunt in NYC. He wakes up nightly dreaming of the accident that took his parents. While in the library doing research, he hears a child crying. Investigating this, working with his school group, and meeting all sorts of people his aunt brings home, things slowly start to even out and Trace finds he is finally sleeping again.
Borderline YA/MG - Trace is a bit old for MG but content and theme wise, upper elementary could handle it. Some kissing, but not a major part of the story.
Borderline YA/MG - Trace is a bit old for MG but content and theme wise, upper elementary could handle it. Some kissing, but not a major part of the story.
October 30, 2019
A deftly told and moving story of a Brooklyn boy made orphan by a horrific car accident that killed his parents and haunts him daily. There are ghosts in this story; believable, unsettled spirits who come to find Trace when he feels unable to handle his daily life in school and at home with his Aunt Lea. But ghosts can put all sorts of things to rest it turns out. Cummings captures the grief and despair and excitement of a boy coming to terms with huge loss while learning to put one foot in front of the other and find joy even in the middle of the darkest times.
August 25, 2020
Trace has come to live with an eccentric aunt in the city following the deaths of his parents in car accident, for which he blames himself. He's having trouble making friends in his new school, and hopes that will improve when he is assigned a group of potential allies for a history project. While researching at the local library however, Trace starts seeing a boy who he realizes is a ghost. Any of these plot lines might have made a decent book; stringing them together was a little much. I was sometimes as confused as Trace, and I found myself skimming to get to the end.
February 28, 2019
I didn’t know much about the book before I started reading, but was soon pulled into Trace’s new life in Brooklyn following the death of his parents. I don’t want to spoil the mystery for you, suffice it to say, Cummings layers characters and clues throughout the story, inviting readers to make the leaps. Whether or not you see the resolution coming, you’ll be left feeling that life is well worth living, that it can be full and vibrant, and that it goes on.
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