June 13, 2011
Both chilling and lyrical, Kelley's second novel is a ghost story with a cryptic narrator whose identity gradually comes into focus. Hannah and Anna Zimmer, 11-year-old twins, reluctantly move with their family from their beloved Brooklyn to a creepy house on Hemlock Road. Right away, the siblings are unnerved by bizarre disturbances: a haunted closet, mysterious winds, bats in the attic, and a faint voice. The twins initially plot to use the house's eccentricities to terrorize their older sister, Selena, but while Anna begins to adjust to their new life and school, Hannah does not, becoming resentful and committed to deciphering the house's mysteries. As befits a story swirling with familial secrets and betrayals, the tensions within the Zimmer family are especially well-observed, and Kelley (Nature Girl) conveys an impressive amount of emotion with few words. The ethereal tone and steady parceling out of warning, clues, and bits of information ("And yet something had happened in the shadow of those rocks. It changed the place forever. It could never be forgiven") maintain the novel's intrigue and will keep readers invested in the unfolding mystery. Ages 9â12.
July 1, 2011
It takes a haunted house to break the bond of identical twins.
If Hannah and Anna's older sister, Selena, had tested high enough to place into a good school in their Brooklyn neighborhood, their parents wouldn't be building a home in the suburbs and the 11-year-olds certainly wouldn't be living temporarily in the decrepit old house on Hemlock Road, where locals have claimed to see a peculiar set of green eyes peering back at them. The sisters notice oddities immediately, from an unidentifiable horrid smell to bats in the attic to unexplained breezes. What Hannah and Anna, who have always been close enough to read each other's minds, don't notice right away is how they not only don't understand each other anymore, but often don't even like each other. Readers observe the twins' changes through a seemingly third-person narration that subtly morphs into a first-person narration. Is the vengeful narrator the house itself, a monstrous beast or an angry inhabitant from the past? Readers slowly discover the narrator's identity as it, seizing on Hannah's separation from her sister, tries to manipulate her into a supernatural friendship, and Hannah uncovers information about a shell-shocked solider from World War I, a jealous sister's rivalry and a tragedy from 80 years ago.
Mounting creepiness with well-placed spine-tingling moments make this scary story perfect for fans of Mary Downing Hahn. (Ghost story. 9-12)
(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
September 1, 2011
Gr 4-6-When yet another family moves into the house she died in and has been haunting for more than 80 years, a ghost tells her story. She makes for an oddly detached narrator; she can read thoughts, but not emotions. Her motives are never entirely clear-does she want to save the attic's resident bats? drive apart the 11-year-old twin sisters who just moved in? finally be laid to rest?-but the creep factor is never in doubt. Suggest this one to fans of Mary Downing Hahn who can't get enough chills.-Laurie Slagenwhite Walters, Peachtree Montessori International, Ann Arbor, MI
Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
September 1, 2011
Grades 3-5 When 11-year-old Hannah and her family move to an old house in the country, she is the only one to be aware of Ruth, a mischief-making child who died there 80 years earlier. While Hannah's sisters carry on, oblivious, Hannah sinks deeper into misery, as she feels alienated from her family. Kelley has created a compelling array of characters, all seen from the viewpoints of Ruth and Hannah, neither of whom can be called a reliable judge of motivations in themselves or in others but both of whom are nevertheless sympathetic. Through Hannah, Ruth first regains access to a book she loved to read, and then, as events unwind, Hannah helps her acquire closure and move on to an afterlife. Hannah's frustrations are palpable, and her final victorydiscovering that her twin sister, too, can finally hear Ruthis satisfying. There is a lot of action, simply but elegantly revealed at a pace that will keep Hannah and Ruth's peers buried in their story right through the last page.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)
January 1, 2012
Twins Anna and Hannah Zimmer move into a creepy, long-uninhabited house. Their normal closeness is disrupted by the book's narrator, who, it gradually becomes clear, is tethered to the house by an old tragedy. Kelley carries out the supernatural elements well, and the narrative is almost simultaneously mordant and funny. A page-turning plot and astute characterization lift this mystery above the ordinary.
(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
November 1, 2011
A spooky old house and a contemporary family come together in this multilayered mystery. What gives it a special spark is the voice (and tantalizingly unknown identity) of the narrator, observing them all and able to hear their thoughts, especially those of identical twins Anna and Hannah Zimmer, whose family has just moved into the creepy, long-uninhabited house. As the narrator tries to sort out their odd new ways (what is fast food? a food co-op? pasta?) from a most old-fashioned point of view ("Mr. and Mrs. Zimmer didn't make the twins cut a switch for playing that trick on Selena"), the family tries to settle in. For the first time, the ten-year-old twins are in separate classrooms at school, and their normal closeness is disrupted by a mean new classmate and by the narrator, who, it gradually becomes clear, is tethered to the house by an old tragedy. Kelley carries out the supernatural elements well, and the narrative is almost simultaneously mordant and funny (especially when the twins gang up on their airhead older sister, Selena). Though its short length and satisfying resolution will likely earn it slots on many states' award shortlists, its page-turning plot, distinctive style, and psychologically astute characterization lift this mystery well above the ordinary. susan dove lempke
(Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)