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Rating: 
Summary: Finding The Watch
Review: Did you know that boys had to fight in the war at the age of 12? In this story a kid 12 years of age, fights in the Civil War as a cadet. He came back as a ghost because he lost his family heirloom. Every year he looks for it and never finds it, until a boy also 12 years old, coms by and helps him find the watch. But, deep into the book they still have not found it. The ghost has to participate in a ghost battle every year. This ghost boy materializes in front of benjy if he is called , and is known to live on the battle feld of New Market. He has to participate in a ghost world war every year and has to be shot and humiliated.
His family heirloom is a gold watch that his grandfather bought. It was past dawn the generations. After meny days of hard help and work from his friend, the ghost finally finds the watch, meaning he can participate in the ghost role call of his dream! this good book is about a kid how looses his family heirloom and becomes a ghost bound to the battlefield until he finds it. A boy finds him shaking a tree after hundreds of years. This boy becomes good friends with the ghost and helps him find his family heirloom. This book is a high casualty fantasy, so, if you like a good fantasy book, this book is for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
warning!!!!!! This book is not for every one!
Rating: 
Summary: A Determined Hugh
Review: Ghost Cadet
Imagine a fifteen-year-old cadet, struggling to survive on a battlefield. He's just barely alive when he hides his grandfather's watch in a hole. Hugh is now dead, but everyday he struggles to find his watch. In this book, Ghost Cadet, by Elaine Marie Alphin, brings back a real story and gives Hugh an adventure.
Hugh's hope turns all around when he meets Benjy. Not only is he a human (which means he can dig for things and do normal things you and I can do), he is willing to help Hugh. Because of Benjy, they don't only become friends, but they might find the watch before the ceremony in which the cadets come together in pride for serving get called (As you can see Hugh would feel dishonored without a relative having the watch. That's one reason why he needs the watch before the ceremony.) .
Hugh makes Benjy search everyday on the New Market Battlefield. Hugh even makes Benjy dig by old buildings on the field. As Hugh and Benjy get closer to the day of the ceremony, Hugh tells Benjy about the BATTLE!
Do you think that Hugh's watch will be found in time? Read Ghost Cadet, and I guarantee you'll find out! 6th grade student from OHES
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Summary: Great kid fiction not ashamed to present the Southern side
Review: I liked this little book so much I put it in the Sons of Confederate Veterans merchandise catalog. I thought it was extremely well written. My 12 year old daughter enjoyed reading it very much after she visited the New Market battlefield. Where does the "expert reviewer" (above) get off criticizing this title just because it happens to present the Southern point of view? What makes our opinion worth less than anyone else's? I think it presents a refreshing change from the same, tired politically correct version of the war that other YA writers constantly espouse. If you are a Southerner looking for something different for your child (or just an open-minded parent), this is it.
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Summary: The Ghost Cadet book Review
Review: Marin
4/16/04 Then Hugh staggered. "NO!" Benjy screamed, but he knew it was too late. Hugh pitched backward, croaking for breath, his arms still flung up in the air, still gripping his musket. In Elain Marie Alphin's The Ghost Cadet, a ten- year-old boy named Benjy Stark goes from his home in Rochester, New York, to visit his divorced father's mother who lives in New Market, Virginia, where a very important battle took place. While he is there, he has a ghostly encounter with a young cadet named Willam Hugh McDowell who is from the Virginia Military Institute. Hugh tells him that he has lost a family heirloom, a priceless gold watch. He must find it and return it to the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. Benjy must go to the reenactment of the battle of New Market. Will Benjy find the watch or get shot and remain in a ghostly limbo with Hugh forever? The Ghost Cadet is ideal for upper elementary grades, and is a great book to devour. It is sort of sad though, because Benjy does not want Hugh to leave him because Hugh is the only friend he has ever had, while Hugh does not want to be killed all over again .
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Summary: Sometimes, It Takes a Ghost to Teach you Life Lessons
Review: Suddenly, it becomes dark, and ghostly soldiers materialize in front of you. The Battle of New Market has begun, and you are there, in the field. Worst of all, you have no idea what is going to happen.
Ghost Cadet, by Elaine Marie Alphin, is a thought provoking book about a cadet who fought in the Civil War. William Hugh McDowell, our ghost cadet, hid a gold watch between two rocks, from the Yankees, over one hundred years ago. This book is all about recovering the watch.
Benjy Stark is just a kid who can't do anything right, can't make friends, can't understand why his older sister, Fran, just won't play with him anymore. He is teased, and no one likes
him-- until Hugh. Hugh needs a living person to help him find the watch, because he can't handle solid objects. So, after Benjy, who is currently on vacation, listens to Hugh's story, he feels obligated to help Hugh find his grandfather's watch. Benjy could never imagine valuing as strongly about his family honor as Hugh values his own, and Benjy understands Hugh's mission. So the two boys begin to search the field. Soon, the Battle of New Market begins to "relive," and Benjy is pulled into a ghostly world filled with war, fear, hope, courage, and death.
By the end of the book, Benjy has learned a few things. He is going to be a much more social person. You can tell. But the most important is that friendship is forever.
Oh, and I'm not going to tell you how they find the watch-- that is IF they find the Watch. You have to read it for yourself. You'll get more out it that way. Much more.
- Sixth Grader at OHES
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