“Enough early-evening light streamed through the window next to the front door to yellow the walls, spreading its glow across a spindly, antique table I’d never seen before. On it, lying on its side, was an unfamiliar crystal vase of early spring sweet peas, spilled and dripping onto white marble-like tiles.The sound of crying stopped. Then out of the silence came a whisper so heartbreaking, so desperate, that it tugged me forward: “İAyúdame! İAyúdame!”
My heart was pounding so loudly that I could hear it in my ears as I moved closer to the railing, bent over, and looked straight down.
Directly below me, under the brown-red splattered walls, lay a pool of blood.”
This would be a good hook to interest middle school students in the supernatural tale Whispers from the Dead by Joan Lowery Nixon. Sixteen year old Sarah Darnell has a near-death experience which leaves her with an ability to receive communications from the dead. When she and her family move from Missouri to Houston, Sarah begins seeing and hearing messages from a young Spanish woman whose spirit inhabits their new home.
As Sarah begins making friends with a neighbor girl, she realizes that their new neighbors are all keeping a secret from them, a secret she already suspects because of her visions. A murder occurred in their house four years before. In fact, the boy who lived in the house was suspected of killing a girl delivering pizza, but was never convicted.
Throughout the story, Sarah's visions help her to slowly uncover the truth and find the murderer. The story is full of twists and turns that could keep middle school students engrossed. The chapters are short and the story linear. Whispers from the Dead won several readers' choice awards in the early 1990s. It won the 1992 Nevada Young Readers Award, the 1995 Indiana Young Hoosier Award, the 1996 Wyoming Soaring Eagle Book Award and the 1990 Texas Lone Star Reading List.
Despite the awards, I personally did not like the book very well. I found the story rather predictable although that may be because I have read many stories in this genre and am good at making predictions. I also found the book, written in 1989, to be dated. It was written before internet usage was common and many situations reflect that. Sarah uses microfiche at the library to do research and writes letters to communicate with her friends in Missouri. She also rides her bike everywhere even though she can drive (something today's 16 year old would only do as a last resort). I found that I was distracted from the story by these details.
The bottom line is that it would probably not be a book I would recommend to students, but it wasn’t so horrible that I would purge it from my shelves.
That's kind of the way I felt about the Joan Lowery Nixon book I read last week. It is still good to have "safe" books for less mature readers. Might be worthwhile to ask a student to read it and give feedback about whether it is too dated to be enjoyed.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with you that if the book is somewhat dated, it might not hook many teens. The plot sounds pretty interesting though, so maybe if the story was applied to more modern times it may be more appealing to teens.
ReplyDeleteI am glad to see your reaction to the Joan Lowery Nixon book. I enjoyed the one I read last week, but felt it was dated and also that it was predictable as you said. I thought maybe it was because I read so many mystery novels, but since you agreed I must not be alone!
ReplyDeleteI am hooked by the mystery of the story. Is the datedness of the story such a bad thing. I am note sure. I would have to try the book to see. That would be interesting to get feedback from a student or two. See how they perceive the story.
ReplyDeleteToo bad it turned out to not be a very interesting read. The hook sure got my attention and the description sounded really interesting. Sounds like your experience with this book was similar to my experience with the book I selected for this week.
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds like an interesting one, although I think the story has been done before in some form. If the mystery holds up and is logical (given the situation) this would be a good read. But if the book is predictable I wonder if students would bother.
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