Coleytown Middle School English teacher Paul Ferrante has just published his new book, “The Last Ghost at Gettysburg.” Ferrante has been writing for a long time now, having written a few novels in the past and having been a consistent writer for Sports Readers Digest. Ferrante got the inspiration for his new novel from a childhood TV show.
“When I was younger, I used to watch ‘The Wild Wild West’ religiously,” Ferrante said. “In one of the episodes, there was a Confederate ghost who went back to Gettysburg to seek revenge, and I just thought that this place was fantastic.”
And there his dream began.
Although the book that resulted from his inspiration is a lot of fun, readers can also expect to learn from the novel.
“I wanted to teach my readers a little history, but I’m not going to hit them over the head with it,” Ferrante said.
In the story, the main character, TJ, travels to Gettysburg to visit his cousin Luanne. To his surprise, his cousin is no longer the nerdy girl that he remembers. TJ’s best friend, Bortnicker, ends up joining the two as they try to solve a ghost mystery without getting caught by Luanne’s park ranger father.
Ferrante hopes his book will appeal to teens.
“All of the characters are made up of bits and pieces of my students, and that is why I think they will be able to relate to them,” said Ferrante.
Luckily for fans of the novel, the adventure doesn’t stop after the last page. A sequel, “Secrets of the Pirate House,” is coming out this September.
