Ben Conover sees people no one else can see. When he confides in his best friend, the air cackles with gossip and he becomes known as the " Ghost Boy".

Ben's sixth sense means he can see the ghosts of relatives that have passed. He is also first to help his fellow students. But when he tells them about the ghosts, he becomes the butt of everyone's jokes. It's also become a battleground for his mums acceptance and dads disapproval.

I quite enjoyed this thought provoking story. Oh wouldn't it be good if we could all see the ghosts of our relatives that have passed. The writing style is a bit choppy and the book also contains bad language. The twist at the end is a bit creepy. A book that is suitable for tweets and teens

I would like to thank NetGalley, John Hunt Publishing and the author Stafford Betty for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Review: GHOST BOY by Stafford Betty

A lovely coming of age tale about a boy who is subtly "different":  Growing up in Bakersfield, the son of a strict Alabama-raised father and a generous, open-minded Hispanic mother, Ben sees ghosts. A young girl who appears to alert him to potential danger he names Abby. She doesn't speak, but his late grandmother does. His father thinks he needs psychiatric help; his mother believes, and nourishes Ben's truth. Ben faces the decision every day to turn aside from his gift, or to fully embrace it.

This novel I recommend to all. It's heartwarming, encouraging, and inspiring. Ben is  twelve and thirteen during the story, but readers of all ages can discover excitement and encouragement within these well-written pages.

This book was a great young adult book.  I enjoyed the child's "sixth" sense of seeing ghosts.  There is a lot of conflict around his abilities.  I think this would be something hard for a child to live with and learn to accept as part of who they are.  This book was a glimpse into this a little for me.  I think the book could have had more into for me to full enjoy the story to its full potential.  The book felt a little too young adult for me this time. *This book was given to me for free at my request from NetGalley and I provided this voluntary review.*

I am a huge fan of YA books, but I think Ghost Boy was aimed at an extremely young audience. It wasn't a great fit for my reading style and took me quite a while to get through. It's a decent story that started out pretty well, but the plot is not as cohesive as I would've liked. I think young kids, 10 to 12 years old, would enjoy this story.

Ghost Boy is a young adult fiction that will probably appeal to most young persons.  However, I did not enjoy the book all that much, and it may be that I am hardly a young person. The story centers around a 12-year old, Ben Conover, who communicates with spirits. He desperately wants his father’s approval but does not receive it.  On the other hand, he sometimes feels his mother, who thinks Ben has special abilities, smothers him a bit.  Ben’s best friend is a spirit, Abby, who is always around to comfort and calm him, helping him through difficult times.  Ben keeps his secret until it’s revealed (I was not sure why this occurred at this particular time).  Naturally, those around him in school and such mock him for seeing ghosts, as word of his unique ability spreads around. It is interesting that Ben does not let their opinions of others affect him, as he continues to help those who need it. Finally, he finds out that his father is contemplating sending him to a military school, which naturally upsets Ben. In the end, Ben learns something that will cause people to think differently about him. 

I generally enjoy reading paranormal stories, but this one just did not cut it for me, though possibly, a younger person would enjoy it. The story moved along, but it was rather choppy. It sometimes seemed, to me, to jump all over the place. Nevertheless, the story was not long and was somewhat enjoyable.  I think a younger person might enjoy it more, though I am not sure such a person would find it any more rewarding that I did. I received this from NetGalley to read and review.

When I started reading this book, I didn't realise that it was written for young teenagers, so it really did not appeal to me.
Ben Conover is a 12-year old boy who can communicate with Abby who is deceased. Ben's mom tries to smooth things over with Ben's dad who does not agree with Ben's behavior. Ben is also trying to fit in at school, but when his friends find out about his communications with Abby, he becomes known as Ghost Boy.

3.5 Stars.

This book was good. But that's it. I have read very few novels with a twelve-year-old as the narrator and this fell kind of flat for me. I couldn't connect with the characters and while I was waiting for a big plot twist, this did not deliver. The writing was okay, although sometimes it read like a first draft, and didn't get any better really.

Overall, I'm glad I read it, but would not purchase.

I buoyed reading this book. It is perfect for young adults and ii can see that there will be demand further stories  in this series.

Ghost boy is a good book. 12 year old Ben Conover can see spirits and after telling his friend it gets out and the whole school starts calling him Ghost Boy. Even his family is a little shocked and a little disbelieving with this information Ben's story really tugged at your heart.  This book is very well written and I enjoyed reading it a lot

I gave this book 4.5/5 stars!

Thanks the publisher for giving me this one,. ITs the story of a twelve year old named Ben who sees people the rest of the world cannot see and it's called ghost boy.
He wants to be just the rest to the world and wants his father approval and even if our situation  are very different I could relate to some aspects because when I was 12 I was very different from my classmates and I just wanted to be like the rest of them so I felt Ben.
Another thing I loved from the book was his friend,Abby, a very interesting character

There is a lot to recommend this book. It reads like a picture portrait of childhood in America. A young boy who enjoys life and sometimes takes things little bit further than he should. He gets into some scrapes but there is something he feels both urges him on and at the same time protects him as he does this. He can "see" spirits. Turning to his parents for help with what he sees he gets diverse reactions. His father, particularly believes he needs help. it is a bittersweet book meant for children. I struggled a little with the "morality" issues sometimes it felt a bit sanctimonious. I also disliked that Dad was called intermittently Sam and Dad in the same sentences.

Did not finish. While this book wasn't awful it wasn't for me. I found that it jumped from place to place to different events and times and introduced too many different characters in only afew chapters. The few chapters that i read didn't carry on from each other. There was one about being bullied in a park one about a birthday party playing spin the bottle one about friend finding out the main character sees ghosts and one with a baseball game. Im sure it would have all came together in the end but the characters seemed bland and uninteresting and the book just didnt hold my attention. I still rate it at 2stars as the idea behind the book was still interesting and the main character is a young boy instead of the very over used teenage girl also the book could have still been great if id had the willpower to continue with it.

Twelve-year-old  Ben Conover sees things other people can't: he sees spirits, or, as his friends like to call them, ghosts. His mother is convinced that Ben has special abilities, while his dad considers him mentally ill. In between his parents' conflict, Ben needs to find a way to convince his father that he is not ill.

I really hoped this would be a good book, as the description indicated. Sadly, I found the plot flat, to the point of actually lacking interest. I kept waiting for a big plot twist or something that would shake the waters of the story, but it never came. The writing was alright, but not exceptional, and I failed to connect to the characters.

Sometimes you can read a Young Adult book and it doesn't matter what age you are the book can transcend any age. In other cases it doesn't. I think for me this is a book for young adults and children to be enjoyed by young adults and children. Which doesn't make it a bad thing just the wrong book for me.

I couldn't quite get into the characters and the plot didn't flow well enough for me. Then again as mentioned, I'm not 12. It's got an interesting concept and would make a good supernatural starter for younger readers so I would recommend they have a go :)

Free arc from netgalley

Ghost Boy is an enlightening book about 12 year old Ben Conover and his adventures and misadventures at home and in school.  Ben has a sixth sense advantage, in that he can see ghosts of relatives passed, but this is not a talent he spreads around much.  He is also usually the first to go to the aid of ostracized or embarrassed fellow students.  When he finally does admit to the ghost thing as well, he becomes the butt of everyone's jokes and finds the threat of Military School in his future from his pragmatic father.  But sometimes, you just gotta do what you gotta do.  

I received a free electronic copy of this middle school novel from Netgalley, Betty Stafford, and Our Street Books in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.

This book was interesting, it kinda reminded me of the Sixth Sense in a way.
The characters in this book I know were kids, but something didn’t fit for me, I’m not sure what it was. It could have been the way the characters were portrayed, way it was written, maybe a little of both? I’m un sure. I did want to be able to like this book because the synopsis of it did seem promising.
Don’t get me wrong, this is a unique story but it just isn’t one that I enjoyed. Maybe you will?

I must confess that I am not a fan of poltergeist stories and the subject didn’t speak to me at first (probably this is why I was never in the mood for this particular book). But then, I searched for the author and found out that he has a Ph.D. in theology from Fordham University, and is a world expert on the afterlife and paranormal studies and made me reconsider my desire of reading his novel.

The book presents the story of Ben Conver, a twelve-year-old boy, who has a unique gift: he can see and talk to spirits. His best friend is Abby, who is a ghost, who protects him and who turns out be a very important person in his life.
Despite seeing things that normal people can’t, Ben is a very normal child. He goes to school, gets bullied by other kids and seeks continuously to please his father who doesn’t believe in the ghost stories he hears and decides that Ben should be medicated. However, he starts to have second thoughts after some events in which the ghosts who talk to his son reveal some secrets that Ben couldn’t have know.

It was a great preteen coming of age book. It dealt with many issues and ways to solve them. Plus side to this book , was it had a supernatural twist to it. I will buy this for my preteen to read!!

This was a little over my head as far as keeping my attention.  My daughter saw it and has asked to read it and she is enjoying it so far.   She is 12 though so that might be the best to get her take on it!

This a book aimed at teenagers and younger children which I do not normally read but I did find it interesting. It does however read as though the chapters are separate short stories joined together but overall it was a  well written book.