Stranger With My Face by Lois Duncan

Stranger With My Face
Lois Duncan
ISBN 0440983568
256 pages
Laurel Leaf, 1982

Genre: Supernatural/Paranormal

Readers Annotation:
With the help of an identical twin sister she never knew about, 17-year-old Laurie Stratton learns she has the power to travel outside of her body.

Plot Summary:
17-year-old Laurie Stratton has spent her entire life living in an isolated house on an isolated New England island with her parents and two younger siblings. Laurie's younger siblings look just like their parents and share their artistic talents--Laurie's parents are a writer and an artist--but Laurie shares none of the family traits.

Her friends and family start seeing Laurie all over the island, in places she knows she hasn't been. Laurie, too, senses the presence of someone else and starts seeing the reflection of a "mirror-girl" who looks just like her, but isn't. Eventually, the presence grows stronger, and the mirror-girl reveals herself to be Lia, Laurie's identical twin sister. Laurie didn't know she was adopted and confronts her parents; they admit that her mother was Navajo and they adopted her as a baby. They were given the chance to adopt her sister, too, but her mother felt inexplicably scared of and repelled by the infant.

With the help of her new friend Heather, whose parents, conveniently, used to teach on a Navajo reservation, Laurie learns that Lia is using astral projection, which allows her to sever her soul from her body and travel wherever she wants. Laurie is interested in seeing if she shares her sister's talents, but Heather warns her against trying it and also warns her that Lia has "evil eyes."

A mysterious accident soon befalls Heather; Jeff, a friend who shares Laurie's interest in astral projection, also disappears. Though she is warned to stop searching for answers and be content with her life on the island, Laurie is determined to figure out the truth about her sister, her heritage, and her possible power.

Critical Summary
Duncan is skilled at inserting supernatural elements into a typical realistic YA setting, so the reader readily accepts Laurie's transformation from typical teen into a supernaturally gifted superwoman.  There's a lot of plot to cover in a mere 256 pages, so it surprised me that there was actually a fair amount of character development and atmosphere building. The beginning of the book lingers over Laurie's everyday experiences--forgetting her locker combination, not knowing who to sit with at the lunch table--but about three-quarters of the way through, it picks up a breakneck pace. The climax of the novel seems a bit rushed and unsatisfying.

Though the main and supporting characters were well drawn and interesting--Laurie's family is charmingly eccentric, Laurie's love interest has an interesting back story of his own--the character of Lia is strangely undeveloped. Duncan never quite explains her motivations.  The ending of the book is genuinely spooky, with the last two pages providing a reader with a satisfying, lingering chill.

Though this book was published over 30 years ago, I was surprised at how relevant it seemed. Though there were no mentions of computers or cell phones, there also were no references that seemed incredibly dated.

About the Author
Lois Duncan has written many novels for children and young adults. She is especially known for her young adult suspense novels, which often feature supernatural, paranormal powers; her teen heroines often have psionic powers, such as psychic ability or clairvoyance.  Many of her novels have been turned into made-for-TV movies, as has Stranger With My Face. The suspense novels, many of which were written in the '70s and '80s, remain extremely popular with contemporary readers.

Curriculum Ties
While this book will be an enjoyable read for young adults, it does not have any elements that would make it an appropriate choice in a school curriculum.

Booktalking Ideas
1. Talk in the character of Laurie, spookily explaining how friends and family have been seeing her around town in places she hasn't been and how she has been seeing the mysterious mirror-girl.
2. Talk about Laurie's sense of disconnection from her family and the other kids at school.
3. Explain the concept of astral projection and its connection to Navajo culture.

Reading Interest/Level:
This book, which is not a difficult read, would have appeal to both junior high and high school students.

Challenge Issues:
There is nothing particularly controversial about this book in terms of language or content, though it's possible that someone's religious beliefs might make them find the very idea of a book about the supernatural/paranormal to be objectionable.

Selection Criteria
I remembered Lois Duncan's books being popular when I was a young reader, and I was surprised to see them with different, updated covers in my library's young adult section.  Stranger With My Face, along with several other Duncan novels, are also explored in critical essays by Lizzie Skurnick in her recent book Shelf Discovery.