VVMBookBlog

Mitch is 12 and spending the summer with his mother at his grandparents’ house at Bird Lake.  His parents have separated and he’s trying to adjust to life without his father and an uncertain future.  Spencer is 10 and comes to spend the summer with his parents, younger sister, and dog, Jasper, in a home next door to Mitch on Bird Lake.  It’s the first time his family has been there since his older brother drowned in that lake when Mitch was two.

Chapter alternate between Mitch and Spencer telling the story each from their perspective.  Tensions between Mitch’s mother and grandparents cause him to want to live next door with his mother, but when Spencer’s family move in, he comes up with ways to scare them into leaving.  Then we read about Spencer’s reactions to those tactics.

There’s no big dramatic action here but we can really get into the boys’ heads to experience the pain and confusion they are both feeling.  Read Olive’s Ocean for more by this author.

What happens when you keep a secret about something bad that happened?  What happens when you keep that secret for a LONG time?  And how many other people might be affected by that secret you are keeping?

Ali is 13 years old and has a chance to spend the summer at the lake with her artist Aunt Dulcie and babysit her 4-year-old cousin, Emma.  But Ali’s mom, Dulcie’s sister, doesn’t want her to go. She says the weather at the lake place is rainy all the time, and that the lake is deep and dark and dangerous! What is she so worried about? And who is that third person torn out of the photograph Ali found in the old Nancy Drew book?

Ali runs into more questions when they all get to the lake, but even more when strange little Sissy shows up out of nowhere wanting to play with Emma. Who is Sissy, where does she live, why is she so mean, and what kind of answers might she have to Ali’s questions that no one else will answer?

Mystery, suspense, a terrible secret (and are there really ghosts?) all make this a pretty compelling story.