The Grave (novel) facts for kids
Recent paperback cover
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| Author | James Heneghan |
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| Language | English |
| Genre | Novel |
| Published | 2000, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (first edition, hardcover), Laurel-Leaf (re-released paperback) |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | 0-88899-414-1 (paperback) ISBN: 0-374-32765-3 (hardcover) |
| OCLC | 44751787 |
The Grave is an exciting time travel book. It was written by a Canadian author named James Heneghan. The story jumps between Liverpool in the 1970s and Ireland and Liverpool in the mid-1800s. This amazing book first came out in the year 2000.
Contents
Story of The Grave
The main character in The Grave is Tom Mullen. He is a 13-year-old boy who lives in Old Swan, Liverpool. Tom lives with his foster parents, who are not very kind, and another boy named Brian.
Tom's Big Fall
One night, Tom and Brian sneak out. They want to check out a strange digging site near their school. They find out that workers have dug up an old graveyard. While Tom is looking at the graves, he falls into a very deep, dark hole.
A Trip to the Past
Tom wakes up in the countryside near the sea. He sees a group of people around a boy who looks just like him. This boy has drowned. Everyone thinks the boy is gone, but Tom knows how to do CPR. He saves the boy's life!
The boy's name is Tully Monaghan. Tom is invited to stay with Tully's family. As Tom walks into their small house, he sees a newspaper. It says the date is September 1847. Tom has not only traveled to Ireland, but he has also gone back in time! He is now in the middle of the Great Famine.
Back and Forth in Time
Later, the villagers are attacked by the land owners. Tom gets hit on the head. Suddenly, he is back in his own time, 1974. He is very sad to be away from the friendly Monaghan family.
During football practice, Tom realizes something amazing. He can jump back into the pit to return to the past! When he does this, he finds the Monaghans' house almost destroyed. Tully's father has passed away. The family decides to move to Liverpool. Tom goes with them. But then, he accidentally returns to his own time again.
Family in the Past
The next night, Tom jumps into the grave once more. He arrives in old Liverpool on March 13, 1848. This is four months after he last saw the Monaghans. Tully's mother becomes very sick with a fever. His brother Brendan also catches it. Both of them pass away in the hospital.
Tom tells Tully and his sister Hannah about coming from the future. They are the only family members left. They figure out that Tully is Tom's great-grandfather. Tom realizes he came to the past for a reason. If Tully had died on the beach, Tom would never have been born!
A New Beginning
Tom decides to return to his own time. His foster parents are angry and kick him out of the house. That night, Tom goes to the grave. He takes the coffins of Ma and Brendan. He buries them properly in a church graveyard.
A few months later, Tom's football coach asks him a strange question. He asks why Tom changed his last name to Monaghan. It turns out that the coach is Tom's father, who he had never known!
Book Awards
The Grave has won several special awards:
- It won the Sheila A. Egoff B.C. Book Prize for Children's Literature in 2001. This award celebrates great children's books!
- It also won the Mr. Christie's Book Award Silver Seal in 2000.
- The book was nominated for the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction. This award is for the best historical stories.
- It was nominated for the Keystone State (Pennsylvania) Reading Association Young Adult Book Award in 2001-2002.
- It was nominated for the Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award in 2002.
- It was nominated for the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Juvenile Crime Fiction in 2001.
