The Vespertine

Mitchell, Saundra. The Vespertine. Harcourt: 2011. ISBN: 9780547482477.

Summary:
It is 1899 and seventeen-year-old Amelia has been sent by her brother to Baltimore to find a respectable husband. Staying with her cousin Zora, is exciting and Amelia loves the city. The two girls go to dinners and other social engagements that mark the season. One night just as the sun is setting Amelia has a vision of Zora in a beautiful gown dancing with Thomas, the boy she is hopeful will propose. The girls just giggle and carry on until the vision becomes reality. Amelia begins having more and more visions, not all end happily. Unsure of how to use her 'gift' Amelia must face realities that are not of her choosing.

Evaluation:
This book is wonderfully written. The language flows and recalls the time and setting beautifully. Written in first person we see the action through Amelia's eyes. Amelia is thoughtful, caring, vulnerable and a bit rebellious, all at the same time. Her relationship to Zora is central to understanding Amelia. Both girls flirt with romance, it is not just a game, but a life altering experience. This book is a nice mix of historical fiction, romance and paranormal ability. The three blend together with ease.

Reader's Annotation:
The next time you feel the wind on your skin, you will think again.

Bibliotherapeutic Uses:
We all deal with guilt and feelings of regret whether they are deserved or not. Understanding that life has an ebb and flow of its own can release some of the tension we carry around.

Genre:
Historical Fiction, Romance, Paranormal

Why I Included This Book:
The cover really caught my eye, I am a sucker for costume dramas.

Ghostgirl: Rest in Popularity

Hurley, Tonya. Ghostgirl: Rest in Popularity. Little Brown and Company: 2008. ISBN: 9780316113571

Plot Summary:
Charlotte Usher was going to have a better school year this year. She spent all summer working her 'Popular Plan' and now on the first day of school she was ready to 'rock it!' Charlotte was usually not noticed by her class mates, she felt invisible and unimportant. There was one class mate in particular that Charlotte wanted to notice her, Damen Dylan. As luck would have it, Damen was in her Physics class, but so was Petula, Damen's girlfriend. So far her plan was working, at least a bit, and Damen was just assigned as her lab partner. Ecstatic, Charlotte pops a gummy bear into her mouth as the bell rings and the students migrate into the hall to change classes. Suddenly the gummy bear lodges in Charlotte's throat and the course of the school year and much more changes. These new changes are not welcome to Charlotte. Accepting who we are and how to deal with unforeseen situations is what life and possibly in Charlotte's case, death is about.

Critical Evaluation:
The first book in a small series, Ghostgirl: Rest in Peace sets the stage for further paranormal adventures with Charlotte at Hawthorne High School. Her characters including the ghosts journey through self awareness and respect as the plot unfolds. An interesting aspect to this story is the convention that the ghosts go to high school in the same building as the living. They eat lunch in the cafeteria at the same time and follow the same class schedule with the bells. Charlotte's journey from invisibility to self esteem is not diminished in any way because she isn't among the living. The physical book is long and rectangular, not unlike a coffin. Each chapter begins with a silhouette, a poem and a brief didactic paragraph about Charlotte and her issues.

Reader's Annotation:
Charlotte is dying to be popular. Will she get her wish?

Bibliotherapeutic Uses:
Some teens are obsessed with being popular, Charlotte's tale is a cautionary one.

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Why I Included This Book:
I found the black, coffin shaped cover interesting.