Boekverslag Jessica's Ghost

Reading portfolio English

Book assignment: Jessica’s Ghost

Part A: General details

Title: Jessica’s Ghost

Author: Andrew Norris

Main characters:

Francis – A teenage boy who is interested in fashion and because of that is bullied, and lives alone with his mum.

Jessica – The ghost of a teenage girl who doesn’t know how and why she died she died.

Andi – A tough teenage girl with red hair, she’s been asked to leave her old school for fighting.

Roland – A teenage boy who has been bullied at his old school because he is overweight.

Part B: Summary

In your own words (!) write a summary of the book. Write it in English! Remember what your teacher explained about the length of a summary.

Francis is a boy, but he is not like other boys; he likes fashion and making clothes. Because of that he is being bullied at school. One day when he was sitting alone outside to think, a girl in a Victoria Beckham zebra dress, which Francis obviously recognized because he loves fashion, comes sitting next to him. When he offers her some tea she is shocked that he can see her, she explains that she is a ghost and no one has ever been able to see her since she died. Neither has anyone to talk to and quite immediately became best friends. They hang out the whole day, every day. Only at night, Jessica returns to the hospital, where she one day woke up after she had died. She doesn’t know how she died where she died and why she woke up in that hospital as a ghost, but every time she thinks about how her life was before she died, she returns to the hospital back in her hospital clothes, and she can’t remember what happened.

Francis then meets his new neighbor Andi, a short but strong girl who was sent away from her last school because she was violent. When Francis went to meet her and try to convince her to go to school, even though she didn’t want to go, Jessica went with him because she went everywhere he went. Turns out Andi could apparently also see Jessica, she is shocked for a moment, seeing how Jessica walked through the bed, but later finds it very cool that Jessica is a ghost. The next day Andi comes back and, most of the time, questioned Jessica on what it was like being a ghost. In the course of a couple of hours, Andi found out more things about Jessica’s life - both before and after she had died - than Francis had discovered in a fortnight. When Francis has to do work for school, they begin talking about school, how Andi’s old school was and how she doesn’t want to go to school again. But quickly Francis convinces Andi to come to school with him and for the first time she is actually exited for school, especially since there is a ghost going with her. Later they meet Roland, a boy who doesn’t want to go to school because he got bullied so bad that he now only plays videogames in his room, and eats, A LOT. When his mom heard how Francis convinced Andi to go to school she wanted Francis to help her son. When Francis went to Roland’s house, which was enormous, he wasn’t quite in the mood to ‘help’ someone who he, after this, will probably never see again. Francis walks upstairs into a dark room, Roland, who is sitting behind his desk playing a game on his computer, is clearly not in the mood to talk to anyone. So, Francis goes downstairs and leaves the house. But just when he was about to grab his bike and go, Roland comes down and apologizes, he asks Francis and his friend back in again. Francis is confused and shocked, Roland could see Jessica too? Once they were in his room again, Jessica and Francis explain that Jessica is a ghost, but Roland doesn’t take this information as calmly as Andi had done. When Jessica did her demonstration of walking through furniture he faints. Roland knows a lot about ghosts because of the books that he has read and his online friend. Francis, Andi, Roland and Jessica become good friends and Francis, Andi and Jessica try to come up with a solution to make Roland go back to school again. Roland absolutely refuses to go back to that horrible place, they decide that, for now, homeschooling is the best and only solution. After a few months Roland goes to school again, but this time the same school as Francis and Andi. He is scared that anyone will bully him again, but now he has his best friends by his side. Indeed, one boy made a comment about how enormous and gigantically big Roland was, but Roland didn’t care. For the first time ever he didn’t care, 2 months earlier he would’ve cried and ran to the toilet when someone would say something like this. But with his friends by his side it didn’t matter, he has friends, that’s all that matters. The friend group including Jessica become incredibly close and they try to find out how Jessica died, and why they are the only ones who can see her…

Part C: Your opinion

1. Why did you choose this book? Explain your answer.

When I was in the library and read the back of the book I read this:

Francis has never had a friend like Jessica before.

She makes him feel completely himself

Jessica’s never had a friend like Francis before-

He’s the first person who’s ever been able to see her…

Everyone feels alone sometimes, some people more often than others and I feel like in those times we could all use a friend like Jessica. Even though she’s a ghost, she is a great friend who everyone could use in their lives. I really like books about friendships and the back made me very much want to read the rest of the book.

1. What did you think of the book? Explain your answer.

I really, really liked the book, it’s now actually my favourite book. This book is about a serious and important subject which, I find, people talk way too less about. A lot of people have suicidal thoughts and/or are not happy in who they are and the life they are living in. The book has a good storyline and is easy to follow, there are not too much characters, which in my opinion sometimes makes a book confusing. This book was very nice and easy to read but also really amusing, although it wasn’t a happy subject it’s still a very good book.

1. Who is your favourite character and why?

Jessica’s aunt Jo, she doesn’t have a big role but she is a person who a lot of people need in their lives. After Jessica killed herself, aunt Jo immediately switched jobs. She wanted to help people who felt the same like Jessica. When she was needed, she immediately came to the rescue and with her calm voice and way of talking she saved Lorna’s life.

1. If there is anything you can change about the book, what would you like to change and why?

There isn’t much I would change about this book, I loved every part and sentence of it. But if I would have to change something it’d be that Jessica leaves a sign that she is still by Francis’ side, after she disappeared, to not be a ghost anymore.

1. Would you like to recommend the book to others? Why/why not?

Unusual, important and quietly powerful… Jessica’s Ghost is beautifully written, sad and life-affirming… It’s books like this that make a difference in people’s lives.

I loved every part about this book. This is a really beautiful book that deserves to be read by everyone. Sadly I found it in the library and have to bring it back. It’s very relatable in a way, and a lot of people go through thoughts that are named in the book. Again, 11/10 I would most certainly recommend this book to others!