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Book Summary and Reviews of Ghost Hawk by Susan Cooper

Ghost Hawk by Susan Cooper

Ghost Hawk

by Susan Cooper

  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Readers' Rating (1):
  • Published:
  • Aug 2013, 336 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

On the winter day Little Hawk is sent into the woods alone, he can take only a bow and arrows, his handcrafted tomahawk, and the amazing metal knife his father traded for with the new white settlers. If Little Hawk survives three moons by himself, he will be a man.

John Wakely is only ten when his father dies, but he has already experienced the warmth and friendship of the nearby tribes. Yet his fellow colonists aren't as accepting of the native people. When he is apprenticed to a barrel-maker, John sees how quickly the relationships between settlers and natives are deteriorating. His friendship with Little Hawk will put both boys in grave danger.

The intertwining stories of Little Hawk and John Wakely are a fascinating tale of friendship and an eye-opening look at the history of our nation.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. [A] well-researched and elegant historical fantasy." - Publishers Weekly

"This sensitive portrayal of an unusual friendship poignantly reveals how greed and intolerance led to Native American displacement in colonial Massachusetts." - Kirkus

"Starred Review. Cooper has written a richly plotted, lyrical, and near-epic novel filled with wonderfully realized and sympathetic characters. In sum, this is simply an unforgettable reading experience. Grades 6-10." - Booklist

"Ghost Hawkis the work of a writer with great imaginative power and long-practicednarrative skill. I was swept up in the story, shocked, moved, and enthralled - and completely convinced by the historical background. I haven'tread anything better for a long time." - Philip Pullman, author of The Golden Compass

"Susan Cooper has asked the ghosts of our shared history to sing. And when she asks, they always do." - William Alexander, author of the National Book Award winner Goblin Secrets

"Ghost Hawk is a treasure... Beautifully written, vivid with its manifest love for the land, it is a story of suffering and survival, both tragic and heroic." - Karen Cushman, author of the Newbery Medal winner The Midwife's Apprentice

This information about Ghost Hawk was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

Julie Braun

Learn More of Indian History
Very good reading. At first I wasn't sure after Little Hawk changes form but, this worked out very well as it followed the lives of more people.

Good book of history. Also helps one understand the amendment of religious belief from England to America.

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Author Information

Susan Cooper

Susan Cooper is the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement. Her classic five-book fantasy sequence The Dark Is Rising won the Newbery Medal and a Newbery Honor and has sold millions of copies worldwide. She is also the author of Victory, a Booklist Top Ten Historical Fiction for Youth book and a Washington Post Top Ten for Children novel; King of Shadows, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor book; The Boggart; Seaward; and many other acclaimed novels for young readers and listeners. She lives in Massachusetts, and you can visit her online at TheLostLand.com

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More Recommendations

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