2011 Red Maple Award — Shortlisted

Fourteen-year-old Sam McLean is less than thrilled with the prospect of moving to a collection of old mansions on the northern fringe of a small town called Ringwood. A nobody at his old school, Sam is desperate to be accepted by the cool kids and latches on to Cody Barns, aka Maniac. Cody’s claim to fame is performing wild stunts — the crazier the better — and posting them on his blog.

When Sam reluctantly joins Cody and his sidekick, Javon, on their midnight ghost riding, a practice in which the driver and passenger climb onto the hood of their moving car and dance, something goes terribly wrong. Cody convinces Sam to flee the scene, leaving Javon for dead. But soon mysterious messages appear on Cody’s blog and anonymous notes are slid into Sam’s locker. As Sam struggles with his conscience, a haunting question remains: Who else knows the truth?

Marina Cohen is an elementary school teacher in the York Region District School Board. She has been nominated for the Sunburst, Red Maple Award, Rocky Mountain Book Award, and Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, and been an OLA Best Bet, JGL selection, and Amazon Book of the Month. She is the author of Chasing the White Witch, Ghost Ride, and Mind Gap. She lives in Markham, Ontario.

Marina Cohen's profile page

This spooky new story by Marina Cohen — loosely tied in with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow — will grab readers from the beginning, and keep them hooked until the surprise twist ending.

Canadian Children's Book News

Ghost Ride was a book I literally couldn’t put down!

What If? Magazine

Ghost Ride is a gripping mixture of realism and the paranormal.

Resource Links

Cohen has created a genuinely creepy story that will hold readers' attention.

CM Magazine

When combined with the associations of Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, one can’t help but get into the atmosphere of this novel.

YA Bookshelf

Good for thrill-seeking teens 12 and up.

Winnipeg Free Press