View source for The Fighting Spirit by Rob Keeley

{{infobox1
|title=The Fighting Spirit
|author=Rob Keeley
|reviewer=Jill Murphy
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Rob Keeley continues his wonderful ''Spirits'' series with a reboot - incorrigible ghost Edward Fitzberranger is back, this time with new companions Ruby and Jayden. Together, they time-travel to WWII. Their adventures are as fun as ever and, in true Rob Keeley style, there's an underlying message of fighting for unity in troubled times.
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=128
|publisher=Troubador
|website=http://www.robkeeley.co.uk/
|date=November 2024
|isbn=978-1836282020
|aznuk=1836282028
|aznus=1836282028
|cover=1836282028
}}
''Would you like to adopt a ghost?''

''Young spirit, born 1887, seeks kind home to haunt. Gentleman by birth. Good company. Gets on well with other children. Jokes and shocks a speciality.''

''If interested, place outside your home three twigs, in the shape of an arrow, pointing to your front door...''

Hooray! Bookbag favourite Rob Keeley is celebrating a decade of his wonderfully entertaining [[Rob Keeley's ''Spirits'' series in Chronological Order|Spirits]] series with a new adventure that is both a reboot and a continuation. Just like Doctor Who, Edward Fitzberranger, our incorrigible Victorian ghost boy, has some new companions. Ruby and Jayden respond to this intriguing advertisement and Edward, who has broken the rules as usual and absconded from his manor house home, is adopted by them and takes up residence in.... a wardrobe!

Of course, wardrobe life doesn't last for long and no sooner have Ruby and Jayden discovered that Edward has the ability to time travel, than they find themselves transported to the middle of WWII - bombs are falling and there's a plot to foil. A plot to kidnap princesses, no less. As ever, a Fitzberranger relative joins the supporting cast - this time it's Simon Fitzberranger and his Anti-War Party. Could Simon's outfit provide the solution or is there more to this Anti-War business than first meets the eye? The baddies in this adventure are the Dopplegangers but to find out about them and their dastardly ways, you'll have to read the book.

It's just so lovely to be sent a new ''Spirits'' story to read over Christmas. It's been a five years since Ellie fixed the timeline in [[The Coming of the Spirits by Rob Keeley|The Coming of the Spirits]] and took her leave as Edward's human companion in spirit world adventures. I still miss her. And Mum and Dad, and Charlie and Luke. But Ruby and Jayden are fantastic replacements. They're new characters in their own rights but they also inject the same common sense foil to Edward's chaotic and mercurial interventions into the world of the living. And they're both as courageous and ready for adventure as Ellie ever was. I loved this thrilling adventure into a past that's becoming more and more distant as those who actually lived it become fewer and fewer.

This story closes with a quiet plea for unity. In Rob's gentle and age appropriate way, he takes note of a tumultuous period in which the adults have been dealing with contemporary wars both martial and cultural, riots have made the headlines and polarisation is increasing and offers advocacy for hands across aisles. I appreciate the tact and warmth with which he does this without didacticism. We need more Rob Keeleys writing for children.
Recommended. Of course!

For a slightly older age group, [[Rose in the Blitz by Rebecca Stevens]] is another time-slip story set in WWII and another wonderfully enjoyable read with an underlying contemporary message.

[[Rob Keeley's ''Spirits'' series in Chronological Order]]

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