Steinbeck's Ghost

by Lewis Buzbee

Overview

It's been two months since Travis's family moved from their shabby old house to a development so new that it seems totally unreal. There's one place, though, where Travis can still connect with his old life: the Salinas library. Travis and his family used to go there together every Saturday, but now he bikes to it alone, re-reading his favorite books: the works of John Steinbeck. Suddenly Travis is seeing Steinbeck's characters come to life. There's the homeless man in the alley behind the library, the boy who writes by night in an attic bedroom. Travis has met them before—as a reader. But how can they be here now? And why?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312602116
Publisher:	Square Fish
Publication date:	03/30/2010
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	1,106,748
Product dimensions:	5.32(w) x 7.66(h) x 0.97(d)
Lexile:	780L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

LEWIS BUZBEE is a former bookseller and sales rep, and the author of the acclaimed adult memoir, The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop, published by Graywolf Press in June 2006. His next book, The Haunting of Charles Dickens, will be available from Feiwel and Friends in Fall 2010. A native Californian, Lewis lives in San Francisco with his wife and daughter.

Read an Excerpt

Travis looked at the stack of books on his desk. These were his new life, his real life. A Wrinkle in Time led him to the library. Which led him to Corral de Tierra, which led him to The Pastures of Heaven, which led him to The Long Valley. And these books led him to the other mysteries that surrounded him—Gitano and the Watchers and Steinbeck's ghost—led him deeper into a world he never suspected.

Books could do that to you. When you read, the world really did change. He understood this now. You saw parts of the world you never knew existed. Books were in the world; the world was in books.

Reading Group Guide

Discussion Questions
1. Why did Travis and his parents move to Bella Linda Terrace? Was this a good choice or a bad choice for them to have made? In what ways is their life better in the new neighborhood, and in what ways is it worse?
2. Why doesn't Travis want to confront his parents about their work schedules?
What finally forces him to say something?
3. At various points throughout the story, Travis doubts Hil and his friendship.
Why does Travis do this? Does Hil ever disappoint Travis?
4. Travis feels that reading books takes him from "normal life" to "real life."
What does he mean by this? Does his reading cause any problems for him?
5. What sort of person is the librarian, Miss Babb? What does Travis have in common with her? What does she teach Travis?
6. Why is it so exciting for Travis to meet Ernest Oster? What makes Travis view
Oster as a friend, instead of a famous writer?
7. How does Oster deal with the rejection of his second book? Why does he react this way? How does his method of dealing with failure compare to that of Miss
Babb and the Save Our Library committee?
8. Are the members of the Salinas City Council bad people because they voted against the Save Our Library committee? What reasons do they give for closing the library? Is there something else they could have done?
9. Why isn't Travis afraid of Steinbeck's ghost, or of the other characters he sees?
Is there any point where Travis—or Oster or Hil—is afraid?
10. What did Gitano, Johnny Bear, Steinbeck, and the others want from Travis,
Oster, and Hil? Why is writing down the story so important to Oster, Travis, and
Hil? Do you think this will satisfy Steinbeck and the others?
11. How does Travis change over the course of the story? Would he have described himself as a leader at the beginning?
12. Several times throughout the book, Travis thinks about what would happen if his life were a book ("If this were a book, he thought, I'd know by now who it was that was calling me."—p. 234). Why do you think the author includes these statements? Do they affect your interpretation of the story?
Activities
13. Travis is drawn to Steinbeck's writing because he grew up in Steinbeck's hometown, but countless people have fallen in love with these works. Choose a short story or a novel by Steinbeck to read and discuss with someone else.
14. How is your local library funded? In times of economic hardship, libraries often feel the pain of budget cuts. Plan a creative fundraiser for your library, and help the librarians decide how to spend it.
15. It's very important to the three friends that they each write down their version of what happened up in the mountains. Choose an important event from your life and write a story about it. If you can, choose an event that someone else shared with you, have them write their own story, and then compare the two.
16. Travis has a list of books that changed his life. What books made this big a

difference in your life? Make a list, and share your list with others.

Editorial Reviews

The themes of valuing friendship, managing adults who have lost their priorities, and connecting people through stories will appeal to kids who have found their own magic in the library.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

“The second half of the book is the most absorbing…. [The protagonist] is well drawn. This novel would have greatest appeal to readers familiar with Steinbeck's works.” —School Library Journal

“The story remains an intriguing introduction/companion to Steinbeck's works and imaginatively conveys the power of literature to transport people to another time and place.” —Publishers Weekly

“Buzbee's love for literature and libraries is infectious and, for those similarly inclined, deeply satisfying.” —Booklist

“Magical realism with Steinbeck's ghost and a discerning young hero.” —Kirkus

“You realize Buzbee just doesn't love books, he's besotted.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review on The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop

“A delectable feast…. I cannot remember when I have read a book with such delight.” —Paul Yamazaki, City Lights Bookstore on The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop

From the Publisher

A delectable feast…. I cannot remember when I have read a book with such delight.

City Lights Bookstore on The Yellow-Lighted Booksh Paul Yamazaki

In his middle-grade debut, Buzbee (The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop) pays eerie tribute to a great American author. A native of Salinas, Calif., Travis Williams is campaigning to save the public library (named after the town's most famous citizen, John Steinbeck) when he's unsettled by seeing a ghost in the attic window of Steinbeck's childhood house, hearing a vagrant spouting dialogue from The Red Pony and finding a cave that holds dark secrets about Steinbeck's history. As he joins forces with a classmate and a Steinbeck expert, Travis finds himself drawn into a mystery at least as exciting as those he's read about in books. Creating a brand of magical realism that is more thought provoking than scary, Buzbee resurrects Steinbeck characters and scenes to tell a story within a story. If events are strung together too tidily to allow for a happy ending, the story remains an intriguing introduction/companion to Steinbeck's works and imaginatively conveys the power of literature to transport people to another time and place. Ages 10-14. (Sept.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 5-7

Travis, 13, is trying to adjust to his family's move from Salinas, CA, to a brand-new development. To him, his new home and neighborhood are like Camazotz, the planet from A Wrinkle in Time where everything is the same. His parents seem to work all the time to support their current lifestyle, leaving him on his own. An almost magnetic pull draws him back to his old neighborhood and his favorite place, the John Steinbeck Library, only to discover that it is in jeopardy of being closed. The focus of the novel changes as Travis becomes immersed in the campaign to save it. His friend, Hilario, becomes involved as well. The mysterious underpinnings of the story begin when Travis cycles by Steinbeck's house and sees a boy writing in the attic window. Steinbeck's stories haunt him, and he starts to see characters from them. The second half of the book is the most absorbing. When he, Hil, and an elderly author go into the hills of Corral de Tierra, they have magical experiences that bring them closer to Steinbeck's world. There are some convenient plot twists and stereotypical characters. The protagonist, however, is well drawn. This novel would have greatest appeal to readers familiar with Steinbeck's works.-Renee Steinberg, formerly at Fieldstone Middle School, Montvale, NJ

School Library Journal

An avid reader, 13-year-old Travis becomes involved in local efforts to save the Salinas, Calif., public library from closing and discovers there's a fine line between reality and fiction-especially in the town John Steinbeck immortalized. Since moving from a small, comfy house in Oldtown Salinas to a sterile development, Travis's parents seem too preoccupied with work to pay attention to him. Lonely and unsettled, Travis returns to the Oldtown library and immediately feels reconnected to his former life. After checking out books by and about Steinbeck, Travis begins to see characters from the author's stories. With the library slated to close, Travis joins the fundraising and becomes "part of something huge," embarking on a personal as well as literary pilgrimage through Steinbeck country to uncover an untold story from the past. Heavy reliance on intertextual references to Steinbeck's work proves a bit daunting, but appropriate for the bibliophile protagonist who went "to the library looking for a book, but...found so much more." Magical realism with Steinbeck's ghost and a discerning young hero. (Fiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews

Christopher Lane gives a fine, sensitive performance of a boy's efforts to reconnect with his family. Travis finds himself in a fancy new house in a new part of town missing his old friends and missing his parents, who now seem to work all the time. Floundering and lonely, he returns to a place that holds some of his happiest memories, the Salinas Steinbeck Library. When he discovers he may lose the library, as well, to budget cuts, he is spurred into action. Almost as soon as he embarks on his mission to save this local landmark, characters from his favorite Steinbeck stories begin to step out of the scenery. Lane shines here, giving his performance a Southwestern, Spanish flair that conveys a compelling sense of place. D.G. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2008 - AudioFile