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Young readers book reviews for ages 8 to 12 years old




*Suddenly Supernatural: School Spirit* by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel- young readers book review
 
Also by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel:

My Penguin Osbert in Love
Suddenly Supernatural: School Spirit
by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
Ages 9-12 320 pages Little, Brown June 2008 Hardcover    

“The undead are ruining my life. I blame my mother.”

With an opening like that, you just know that Suddenly Supernatural: School Spirit is going to be a quirky and entertaining read.

Thirteen-year-old Kat has lived in Medford for almost a year. Everyone knows how tough it is to be the new kid in school, and having a hippie-vegan-medium mother is not a ticket into the cool clique. A lucky break pairs Kat with Shoshanna Longbarrow – the Paris Hilton of Medford Junior High—for a history assignment, and Kat hopes this will be her way into the elite group of Satellite Girls who hang with Shoshanna. Unfortunately, Kat’s mom is conducting a séance when Shoshanna arrives for their study session, and wandering spirits are almost impossible to explain away.

Freaked out by what she witnesses at Kat’s house, Shoshanna storms out, threatening to announce to the whole school that both Kat and her kooky mother are totally weird. You’d think life couldn’t get any worse for Kat, but there’s always something worse. In this case, it’s Kat’s legacy – she has inherited her mother’s ability to communicate with the dead, and suddenly ghosts are popping up all over.

Because this whole seeing-ghosts experience is so new to her, Kat sometimes has trouble distinguishing between the living and the dead. Just imagine how embarrassing it is when Shoshanna and the gang see Kat speaking to people who (as far as they can tell) aren’t really there.

Kat isn’t the only new kid in school, though. Serious and introverted Jac (short for Jacqueline) is best known for the cello she hauls around all day. Almost accidentally, the two become instant friends and provide support for each other from the Satellite Girls’ insults. Jac has a secret of her own, though, a secret that seems to draw one particular troubled spirit into the open and straight into Kat’s line of second sight.

Unsure of her ability or how to use it, Kat is reluctant to get into the family business. That choice isn’t necessarily hers to make, and when Kat comes face-to-face with a menacing dark power, her inner heroine steps up to the challenge in order to free the sad spirit of a former student, Jac’s future, and even Kat herself.

Elizabeth Cody Kimmel has a rare gift for creating characters who live and breathe – even the dead ones—and for telling a breathtaking story with just the right touch of humor. Kat and Jac is perfectly matched, full of personality and just the sort of people you’d want for friends. School Spirit is a hit from page one, an enchanting beginning for what I hope will be a very long lived series.
 
Young readers book reviews for ages 8 to 12 years old

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