Shadowed Summer by Saundra Mitchell Release Date: February 10, 2009
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 183
Nothing ever happened in Ondine, Louisiana, not even the summer Elijah Landry disappeared.
His mother knew he ascended to heaven, the police believed he ran away, and his girlfriend thought he was murdered.
Decades later, certain she saw his ghost in the town cemetery, fourteen-year-old Iris Rhame is determined to find out the truth behind "The Incident With the Landry Boy."
Enlisting the help of her best friend Collette, and forced to endure the company of Collette's latest crush, Ben, Iris spends a summer digging into the past and stirring old ghosts, in search of a boy she never knew.
What she doesn't realize is that in a town as small as Ondine, every secret is a family secret.
This novel will be haunting me for sure! In case you didn’t know, I’m not a big fan of ghost stories, because I am the biggest wuss. I remember when I read Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the third grade... (this was long before the tv show, there was actually a movie starring Kristy Swanson and Luke Perry, the book was by Richie Cusick)... anyway, I couldn’t sleep for weeks! And I used to watch that show called Are You Afraid of the Dark? Did anyone else watch that? Sorry, back to the review, this novel was spooky! But I loved it! I think I must secretly like being scared, or something.
But really this is so much more than just a ghost story, it’s about friendship and growing up, figuring out who you really are. The friendship dynamic between Iris and Collette was so on. I remember being the same way with my best friend who lived next door. She was Collette and I was Iris. She always had a crush on the neighbor boy and snuck kisses in my tree house, and I was the tomboy wanting to ride our bikes to the cemetery, which I actually did a lot.
I think I pictured the characters a little younger than fourteen, but maybe that was just me. Even so, I didn’t feel like that took anything away from the story. The unique plot and animated characters meshed seamlessly into a perfect story. And the ending! Oh, the ending! I had to read a few times, to make sure I’d read right, never saw that one coming, but I must admit it was impressive.
Where y'at, Iris?
15 comments:
Buffy! I love that movie! I still watch it whenever it comes on tv, which isn't very often. Luke Perry was to die for in that movie, extremely yummy.
But this one does sound really good-I'll just have to read it with all the lights on!:)
-Sarah
This one sounds good, though - I'll have to order it for the library.
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