Dark Secrets: No Time to Die
Elizabeth Chandler
ISBN 0-7434-0030-5
210 pages
Pocket Books, 2001
Genre: Supernatural/Paranormal; Mystery
Readers Annotation
Teenage Jenny Montgomery attends the summer theater camp where her older sister was murdered the previous year. There, she begins to have pyschic visions that give her clues as to her sister's killer.
Plot Summary
Jenny Montgomery comes from a theatrical family: her father is a famous Broadway actor, her mother was a famous child star, and her sister Liza was a promising young talent before she was murdered last summer. Therefore, it's a surprise to everyone when Jenny decides to attend the same summer theater camp where Liza was killed. Jenny can't quite explain it; she hopes that attending the camp will give her closure. She decides to attend the camp under an assumed name so no one will realize she's Liza's sister.
Though she suffers from horrible stage fright, Jenny is cast in the role of Puck in A Midsummer's Night Dream. While dealing with typical drama camp issues--the director who thinks he's a big shot, a male prima donna--she also begins to have strange visions of Liza. She realizes that she is having psychic visions of what happened to Liza the night she died. The police ruled it the work of a traveling serial killer, but Jenny begins to suspect it was someone at the camp who knew Liza personally. Jenny tries to solve the mystery and figure out what the killer's motive might have been.
Critical Evaluation
No Time to Die is a well-conceived, tightly plotted mystery. While the killer's identity and their motive will come as a surprise to most readers, there were enough clues given throughout the novel that the ending doesn't seem like a cheap trick. The supernatural elements are woven well into the story's otherwise realistic setting. Jenny's psychic visions do help give her clues as to where to look, but she still needs to play detective to solve the mystery.
The story's setting of a drama camp is a smart choice. Not only does it get the teenagers' parents out of the way, allowing them to sneak around in more mysterious ways that they might at home, but it also provides an interesting structure for the story. Jenny's stage fright propels her interactions with just about every character in the book and is a key clue in the final mystery.
While not the most sophisticated book, it would be a good choice for a reluctant readers.
About the Author
Elizabeth Chandler is the pen name of Mary Claire Helldorfer. Under her real name, she has written a number of picture books for young children. As Elizabeth Chandler, she has written a number of supernaturally themed mysteries and romances, including the bestselling Kissed by an Angel trilogy.
Other Books in the Series
Legacy of Lies
Don't Tell
The Dark Secrets series, originally published at the start of the decade, is now being rereleased by the publishers with more modern covers.
Curriculum Ties
This book is not appropriate for use in any curriculum; however, it would be a good choice to recommend to a reluctant reader.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Play up the mystery and Jenny's psychic visions.
2. Talk about the drama camp setting and some of the characters there.
3. Explore the romances in the book and talk about the multiple love interest possibilities for Jenny.
Reading Interest/Level
The book would probably be most appealing to junior high/early high school students.
Challenge Issues
While the story does deal with a murder and a serial killer, the actual book itself does not contain the sort of graphic content that might cause it to be challenged. There are also no issues with language, sex, or alcohol and drug use.
Selection Criteria
The book was recommended in Teen Genreflecting.
Showing posts with label paranormal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paranormal. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Lake of Secrets by Lael Littke
Lake of Secrets
Lael Littke
ISBN 0-8050-6730-2
202 pages
Henry Holt, 2002
Genre: Supernatural/Paranormal
Reader's Annotation
When Carlene and her mother return to the town where her brother went missing 18 years ago, she is haunted by memories related to the disappearance, even though she was not yet born when it happened.
Plot Summary
Fifteen-year-old Carlene's entire life has revolved around an event that happened three years before she was even born: the disappearance of her then-four-year-old brother Keith. Carlene's mother still maintains that he is alive somewhere, and frustrated with his wife's obsession, Carlene's father walked out on her and Carlene many years ago. When she hears a bit of news that might be related to Keith's disappearance, Carlene's mother and Carlene travel back to Lake Isadore, the place where he went missing. Though Carlene has never been there, she is soon haunted by memories of the place and events related to Keith's disappearance.
Through the help of some new friends she makes in the town, Carlene figures out that the soul of someone involved in Keith's disappearance was reincarnated into her body. She must use the memories to figure out the clues as to what really happened all those years ago.
Critical Evaluation
Lake of Secrets is a great premise for a book, and Littke is effective at creating a suitably spooky atmosphere. Carlene is understandably sympathetic to and completely frustrated by her mother's obsession with Keith. Carlene believes with merit that her mother has never really been able to focus on her daughter or see her as her own person -- even her 15th birthday present is a pair of binoculars to help Carlene search for clues about Keith. This frustration is mirrored in Carlene's realization that she inhabits someone else's soul. Is solving the mystery the sole reason for her existence? Does she even have her own identity?
While these psychological issues are intriguing, the mystery itself is not. A careful reader will figure out who is responsible for Keith's disappearance about halfway through the novel, though there are still some interesting details left to be discovered. The book is quick and breezy, with the first half dedicated to slowly building the atmosphere; the pace picks up more quickly in the second half. There's also a cast of charming, slightly eccentric small-town characters that add color.
About the Author
Lael Littke has written a number of horror and supernatural stories aimed at middle-readers and young adults. Many of her books touch on the same themes as Lake of Secrets. Haunted Sister involves a girl being haunted by her twin sister, who died 12 years earlier, while Searching for Selene also focuses on what happens many years after a young child is abducted.
Curriculum Ties
While the book could be used in a display of supernaturally-themed stories for teens, it is not particularly well-suited for any classroom use.
Boooktalking Ideas
1. Tie in Carlene's mixed feelings about being inhabited by someone else's soul with her own struggle for identity.
2. Focus on the spooky, supernatural elements of the story.
3. Talk about Carlene's friendships with love interest Luke and 7-year-old J.T.
Reading Interest/Level
Suitable for readers in junior high and above. Though a more sophisticated reader may be disappointed in how easily the mystery is solved, younger teen readers will enjoy the story.
Challenge Issues
Though the book does deal with supernatural elements, which some may find patently offensive, the book itself has no questionable content.
Selection Criteria
Lake of Secrets is included in Teen Genreflecting as a good choice for the supernatural genre.
Lael Littke
ISBN 0-8050-6730-2
202 pages
Henry Holt, 2002
Genre: Supernatural/Paranormal
Reader's Annotation
When Carlene and her mother return to the town where her brother went missing 18 years ago, she is haunted by memories related to the disappearance, even though she was not yet born when it happened.
Plot Summary
Fifteen-year-old Carlene's entire life has revolved around an event that happened three years before she was even born: the disappearance of her then-four-year-old brother Keith. Carlene's mother still maintains that he is alive somewhere, and frustrated with his wife's obsession, Carlene's father walked out on her and Carlene many years ago. When she hears a bit of news that might be related to Keith's disappearance, Carlene's mother and Carlene travel back to Lake Isadore, the place where he went missing. Though Carlene has never been there, she is soon haunted by memories of the place and events related to Keith's disappearance.
Through the help of some new friends she makes in the town, Carlene figures out that the soul of someone involved in Keith's disappearance was reincarnated into her body. She must use the memories to figure out the clues as to what really happened all those years ago.
Critical Evaluation
Lake of Secrets is a great premise for a book, and Littke is effective at creating a suitably spooky atmosphere. Carlene is understandably sympathetic to and completely frustrated by her mother's obsession with Keith. Carlene believes with merit that her mother has never really been able to focus on her daughter or see her as her own person -- even her 15th birthday present is a pair of binoculars to help Carlene search for clues about Keith. This frustration is mirrored in Carlene's realization that she inhabits someone else's soul. Is solving the mystery the sole reason for her existence? Does she even have her own identity?
While these psychological issues are intriguing, the mystery itself is not. A careful reader will figure out who is responsible for Keith's disappearance about halfway through the novel, though there are still some interesting details left to be discovered. The book is quick and breezy, with the first half dedicated to slowly building the atmosphere; the pace picks up more quickly in the second half. There's also a cast of charming, slightly eccentric small-town characters that add color.
About the Author
Lael Littke has written a number of horror and supernatural stories aimed at middle-readers and young adults. Many of her books touch on the same themes as Lake of Secrets. Haunted Sister involves a girl being haunted by her twin sister, who died 12 years earlier, while Searching for Selene also focuses on what happens many years after a young child is abducted.
Curriculum Ties
While the book could be used in a display of supernaturally-themed stories for teens, it is not particularly well-suited for any classroom use.
Boooktalking Ideas
1. Tie in Carlene's mixed feelings about being inhabited by someone else's soul with her own struggle for identity.
2. Focus on the spooky, supernatural elements of the story.
3. Talk about Carlene's friendships with love interest Luke and 7-year-old J.T.
Reading Interest/Level
Suitable for readers in junior high and above. Though a more sophisticated reader may be disappointed in how easily the mystery is solved, younger teen readers will enjoy the story.
Challenge Issues
Though the book does deal with supernatural elements, which some may find patently offensive, the book itself has no questionable content.
Selection Criteria
Lake of Secrets is included in Teen Genreflecting as a good choice for the supernatural genre.
When Lightning Strikes by Meg Cabot (as Jenny Carroll)
When Lightning Strikes
Meg Cabot (as Jenny Carroll)
ISBN 1-4169-0524-3
266 pages
Simon Pulse, 2001
Genre: Supernatural/Paranormal
Reader's Annotation
After she is struck by lightning, 16-year-old Jessica gains psychic powers that let her locate missing people.
Plot Summary
Jessica Mastriani, high school sophomore, is a regular in her guidance counselor's office and detention. Though she's got a great heart, her temper can sometimes get the best of her, especially when she sees someone being treated unfairly. One afternoon, she and her best friend Ruth are walking home from school when a huge thunderstorm strikes. The only place in the flat Indiana landscape to hide from the hail is under a set of metal bleachers, and Jessica is struck by lightning. At breakfast the next morning, she realizes she knows where the missing kids on the back of the milk carton are. She calls the tip line--1-800-Where-R-U--and tells them where they can find the kids.
After giving them several more anonymous tips--which all turn out to be right--the story attracts attention from both the national media and the FBI. Reporters camp out in Jess' front yard, and FBI agents want to take Jess to a secret facility to see if they can figure out what's caused her psychic powers. At first Jess resists, but after her schizophrenic brother freaks out from all the attention, she decides it would be best for her family to comply. While she's there, she learns that at least one of the kids she's found had very good reasons for wanting to stay missing, and she learns that the FBI really wants her help in finding some of America's most wanted. Can Jess' quick wits and pyschic powers help her set things right?
Critical Summary
When Lightning Strikes features Meg Cabot's signature smart, sarcastic, funny writing style. Jess is a flawed and lovable heroine. The book works as much as a standard teen drama/comedy as it does a supernatural genre piece: Jess is as concerned with gaining an attractive senior's attention and keeping her position at 4th chair flute in the school orchestra as she is with her newfound psychic powers.
Jess' family mostly seem like caricatures, and it's odd that Jess' mother, who is otherwise shown to be a caring and involved mother, becomes overly excited by the prospect of reward money. However, Jess' friend Ruth and her love interest Rob, are more carefully drawn characters, as is Mr. Goodhart, the kindly, beleaguered guidance counselor who's always called on to clean up Jess' messes.
While not a particularly affecting work, it's a short, entertaining read, sure to be popular with Cabot's many fans.
About the Author
Meg Cabot is primarily known for her chick-lit books, especially the Princess Diaries series. She wrote two supernaturally-themed series, The Mediator and 1-800-Where-R-U, under the pseudonym Jenny Carroll. Sales were disappointing, and both series were ended after four books. However, several years later, after Cabot had found great commercial success, her publisher decided to re-release the series under Cabot's real name. Sales were much better, and she published one final book in each series, wrapping up the loose ties.
Curriculum Ties
Though entertaining, this book is not weighty enough to be used as part of any curriculum.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Sell the book as a sort of supernatural Princess Diaries, stressing the book has Cabot's signature writing style.
2. Talk about Jess' everyday problems--her family, her permanent detention, her unrequited crush on Rob--and then add at the end, "And oh, yeah, she just found out that she's pyschic."
3. Talk about the ramifications of Jess' powers--just because she can find anyone, should she? And should she cooperate with the government to find wanted criminals? How does she know what their intentions are?
Reading Interest/Level
This book would be appropriate for readers junior high-aged and up.
Challenge Issues
While there's some discussion of typical teenage delinquency and references to sexuality, none of it is explicit and it is unlikely to be challenged.
Selection Criteria
While looking at lists teens had made on Amazon of their favorite supernatural books, I noticed that this one was mentioned over and over again.
Meg Cabot (as Jenny Carroll)
ISBN 1-4169-0524-3
266 pages
Simon Pulse, 2001
Genre: Supernatural/Paranormal
Reader's Annotation
After she is struck by lightning, 16-year-old Jessica gains psychic powers that let her locate missing people.
Plot Summary
Jessica Mastriani, high school sophomore, is a regular in her guidance counselor's office and detention. Though she's got a great heart, her temper can sometimes get the best of her, especially when she sees someone being treated unfairly. One afternoon, she and her best friend Ruth are walking home from school when a huge thunderstorm strikes. The only place in the flat Indiana landscape to hide from the hail is under a set of metal bleachers, and Jessica is struck by lightning. At breakfast the next morning, she realizes she knows where the missing kids on the back of the milk carton are. She calls the tip line--1-800-Where-R-U--and tells them where they can find the kids.
After giving them several more anonymous tips--which all turn out to be right--the story attracts attention from both the national media and the FBI. Reporters camp out in Jess' front yard, and FBI agents want to take Jess to a secret facility to see if they can figure out what's caused her psychic powers. At first Jess resists, but after her schizophrenic brother freaks out from all the attention, she decides it would be best for her family to comply. While she's there, she learns that at least one of the kids she's found had very good reasons for wanting to stay missing, and she learns that the FBI really wants her help in finding some of America's most wanted. Can Jess' quick wits and pyschic powers help her set things right?
Critical Summary
When Lightning Strikes features Meg Cabot's signature smart, sarcastic, funny writing style. Jess is a flawed and lovable heroine. The book works as much as a standard teen drama/comedy as it does a supernatural genre piece: Jess is as concerned with gaining an attractive senior's attention and keeping her position at 4th chair flute in the school orchestra as she is with her newfound psychic powers.
Jess' family mostly seem like caricatures, and it's odd that Jess' mother, who is otherwise shown to be a caring and involved mother, becomes overly excited by the prospect of reward money. However, Jess' friend Ruth and her love interest Rob, are more carefully drawn characters, as is Mr. Goodhart, the kindly, beleaguered guidance counselor who's always called on to clean up Jess' messes.
While not a particularly affecting work, it's a short, entertaining read, sure to be popular with Cabot's many fans.
About the Author
Meg Cabot is primarily known for her chick-lit books, especially the Princess Diaries series. She wrote two supernaturally-themed series, The Mediator and 1-800-Where-R-U, under the pseudonym Jenny Carroll. Sales were disappointing, and both series were ended after four books. However, several years later, after Cabot had found great commercial success, her publisher decided to re-release the series under Cabot's real name. Sales were much better, and she published one final book in each series, wrapping up the loose ties.
Curriculum Ties
Though entertaining, this book is not weighty enough to be used as part of any curriculum.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Sell the book as a sort of supernatural Princess Diaries, stressing the book has Cabot's signature writing style.
2. Talk about Jess' everyday problems--her family, her permanent detention, her unrequited crush on Rob--and then add at the end, "And oh, yeah, she just found out that she's pyschic."
3. Talk about the ramifications of Jess' powers--just because she can find anyone, should she? And should she cooperate with the government to find wanted criminals? How does she know what their intentions are?
Reading Interest/Level
This book would be appropriate for readers junior high-aged and up.
Challenge Issues
While there's some discussion of typical teenage delinquency and references to sexuality, none of it is explicit and it is unlikely to be challenged.
Selection Criteria
While looking at lists teens had made on Amazon of their favorite supernatural books, I noticed that this one was mentioned over and over again.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
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.
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.
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