The Grey Ghost by Stuart Hill

The Grey Ghost by Stuart Hill

Collins Big Cat supports every primary child on their reading journey from phonics to fluency. Top authors and illustrators have created fiction and non-fiction books that children love to read. Levelled for guided and independent reading, each book includes ideas to support reading. Teaching and assessment support and eBooks are also available.

Jane Grey comes from a rich and powerful family in Tudor England. She loves stories about ghosts and legends, and dreams about excitement and danger. But when a hunt is arranged at Bradgate House and Jane meets the mysterious White Deer and the ghost boy for herself, will she regret what she wished for?

Pearl/Band 18 books offer fluent readers a complex, substantial text with challenging themes to facilitate sustained comprehension, bridging the gap between a reading programme and longer chapter books.

A reader response page provides lots of opportunities for speaking and listening and scaffolding writing.

Text type: A story with a historical setting

Ideas for reading in the back of the book provide practical support and stimulating activities

Stuart Hill left school with few qualifications and went to work in a small car factory where mice made a home in the bags of sugar meant for our tea at break time. It was also so cold in the winter the water in the kettle froze solid. This made Stuart determined to make his escape, and at the age of twenty-two he went to college and took the O Levels and A Levels he should have taken when he was still at school. After this Stuart worked as an archaeologist and eventually went to university where he took a combined Honours Degree in English and Ancient History. Later Stuart worked as a bookseller in Waterstones bookshop, and it was here during coffee breaks and on days off that he wrote his first published book. He'll be forever grateful to my colleagues for reading it and then encouraging me to send the manuscript to publishers. The Grey Ghost was an ideal story for Stuart because it combines his love of history and the fascination with the supernatural that he has had since a very young boy.

Stuart Hill won the inaugural Waterstones Children's Book Award in 2005 for Cry of the Icemark as well as the Highland Book Award and the Medway Book Award. Stuart was also longlisted for the Carnegie medal and several years later he was nominated for the Red House Book Award. He was also twice nominated for the Young Quills Award for Historical Fiction for Shield Maiden, a novel about Aethelflaed, the daughter of Alfred the Great, and also for The First King of England, the story of the Saxon King Athelstan, who united the country against its many enemies in the time of the Viking invasions.