Review: An enjoyable story for young adults
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 10, 2011
Jimmy Stone's Ghost Town follows the life of Jimmy.  The first about half of the book gives you some background in what is really a very harsh life.  While in 3rd grade tragedy strikes his family and his life begins to change drastically.  The only positive is that his mother gives him a puppy that he names Trex.  Fast forward to 5th grade where he has moved to rural Pennsylvania with his father who is now a drunk.  He is pretty much a loner at school and one day the class bullies decide that he is going to be the chosen target for the year.  While hiding from the bullies one day David introduces himself as a former victim of the bullies and says he can help Jimmy survive.  They begin to develop a friendship and David starts to hang out at Jimmy's house.  One night Jimmy, David, and Trex go for a walk in the woods where they find a strangle glowing tree that takes them to Ghost Town.The second half of the book follows the adventure of exploring Ghost Town with their guide Gasp.  Apparently Ghost Town is in an uproar because they have been getting letters that hint at terrible things to come, but they were addressed to Jimmy Stone.  I won't go into any detail about the adventures in Ghost Town so as not to ruin the story for anyone.The characters are well done and you really feel sorry for Jimmy with all the bad things that happen to him.  David is still kind of a mystery at this point, but you can identify with him as a kind of shy 5th grade kid.  I love the addition of the loyal dog to the story (but I'm an animal lover so its kind of cheating).The only thing I wanted to see was a little bit more of a link between Jimmy's tragic past and his adventures in Ghost Town.  There is a little bit of a tie in, but nothing really solid.  It is not enough to take away from the overall book however.Overall it is a very good book for young adults and I look forward to seeing what else happens to Jimmy in the future.