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What do you do when your BFF deserts you for the popular crowd? In The Ghost in Allie's Pool, average-looking Allie Toth is heartbroken as her best friend, Marissa, suddenly makes it clear that Allie is no longer fit to stand in her shadow. Caught up in researching her family tree for an English paper, Allie finds familial ties to Mayflower pioneer Dorothy May, who jumped ship in Cape Cod Harbor in 1620 and drowned.
When Marissa’s rejections become too much for Allie, she tosses her friendship necklace into the pool in a fit of anger. Somehow, amid the water, the ghost of Dorothy May appears. As Marissa’s new friends Crystal and Suzanne harass Allie to the point of brutality, Allie has no one to turn to. Dorothy May, heartbroken herself over the issues that drove her to suicide, shows Allie that the quest for popularity is nothing compared to the hardships our forefathers overcame. With a newfound strength, Allie figures out a way to survive middle school and even helps Dorothy May settle some unfinished business.
This is not a scary ghost story, as its title may suggest. Instead it is a contemporary novel where the main character learns life lessons from the past. Author Sari Bodi does a great job weaving historical facts into the story without that preachy textbook feel. The main character and the Mayflower ghost interact in a very personal and believable way, forging a friendship that belies the generations that separate them. This book is interesting as well as accurate in today’s middle school mind set. Go ahead - dive right in.
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Niki Schoenfeldt/2008 for curled
up with a good kid's book |
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visit our sister site Curled Up With a Good Book (www.curledup.com)
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The Ghost in Allie's Pool