The Riverboat Phantom

Children's Literature - Carrie Hane Hung

Jon and his younger sister Tania are traveling down the river on a steamboat with their mother, stepfather, and the television film crew. Jon and Tania's mother and stepfather are producing the television show Haunted, which features ghosts. Joining the production staff is Madame Natasha, the flamboyant psychic, who claims to speak with the ghosts from the great beyond. Actually, it is Tania who has the ability to see and communicate with the apparitions. Jon and Tania have been keeping her special ability a closely guarded secret as they try to help the spirit of the steamboat captain, Henry O'Brien, who is aboard the boat. The antagonists in the story provide the rising tension as Jon and Tania attempt to help Captain O'Brien continue on in his journey in the afterlife. Those readers who enjoyed Jon and Tania's ghostly encounters will be glad to know another adventure awaits them in the "Haunted" series as the production staff goes to the National Museum of Art's Halloween party in New York City. Reviewer: Carrie Hane Hung