The Empty Mirror

by James Lincoln Collier

Overview

Recognition
• A New York Public Library Book for the Teen
Reviews
"Collier's challenging novel effectively combines historical fiction with a genuinely spooky supernatural tale." -The Horn Book Guide
"Lessons on the importance of not forgetting the past are included in this fast-paced novel that will hook readers with a spooky ghost story while giving them interesting historical information." -School Library Journal
Hardcover Edition available:
The Empty Mirror 1-58234-949-5 - $16.95

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781599908137
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	08/31/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	10 Years

About the Author

James Lincoln Collier is the author of more than fifty books for adults and children. He won a Newbery Honor for My Brother Sam Is Dead and has twice been a finalist for the National Book Award. He is also well known for his writing for adults on jazz. He lives in New York City.


James Lincoln Collier is the author of more than fifty books for adults and children. He won a Newbery Honor for My Brother Sam Is Dead, which he cowrote with his brother, Christopher Collier. Twice a finalist for the National Book Award, he is also well known for his writing for adults on jazz. He lives in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 5-8-Nick Hodges, a 13-year-old orphan with the reputation of being a troublemaker, lives with his Uncle Jack in a small coastal New England village in 1931. His parents both died in the influenza epidemic of 1918, which the villagers are reluctant to talk about. The story opens with Nick's waking from a disturbing dream in which he feels he has lost something. Soon he is accused of not speaking to a neighbor at the pond, when he was miles from there at that time. Investigating at the pond with his friend, Gypsy Dauber, Nick is stunned to see that he has no reflection. He continues to be seen at destructive incidents that increase in their severity: breaking windows of the church; setting fire to the school; and cutting boats loose, one of which has a passed-out drunk aboard. The townspeople are ready to hang Nick for murder or send him to a mental institution when he continues to insist that he is innocent. A gravestone for Jared Solters, a boy of Nick's age who died in the epidemic, provides the clue that causes the teen to investigate the epidemic and learn why Jared wants to inhabit his body and live out the remainder of his life. Some lessons on the importance of not forgetting the past are included in this fast-paced novel that will hook readers with a spooky ghost story while giving them interesting historical information.-Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Prolific author Collier presents an odd and oddly compelling tale of a young boy haunted by a vengeful spirit and his own tragic past. Set in a New England coastal village, the story centers on 13-year-old Nick, orphaned as a baby in the 1918 influenza epidemic. Nick is known for getting into trouble now and then, making it hard for him to defend himself when a mysterious double appears, seeming to be bent on ruining his already tarnished reputation and ultimately claiming his life. Occasionally slow-moving but always atmospheric, the first-person narration follows Nick from the first moment he notices that his reflection has disappeared to his final clever confrontation with the diabolical double. Secondary characters are clearly, if sketchily, drawn and, like the archetypal small-town setting, serve to ground the story without dragging it down into unnecessary detail. While Collier's quirky tale requires more from readers than popular mass-market horror stories, his matter-of-fact tone makes even the ghostly elements seem bone-chillingly plausible. Spooky and satisfying. (Fiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews