Tuesday, May 28, 2024

The Girl in the Lake by India Hill Brown

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I read my first book by India Hill Brown last year but I always wanted to get back around to reading one of her MG books. And I decided The Girl in the Lake is a good one to start with because it's spooky but also a good length at a time when children are wanting and needing shorter books. So while I'm late to the party it's better late than never! Check out my thoughts below.


Celeste and her brother Owen have recently wrapped swimming lesson and Celeste is sure she failed hers. So imagine her uneasiness when her parents tell her they'll be sending her to spend some weeks with her grandparents who live by a lake. When they arrive alongside their cousins the first thing they notice is how the old house creeks and sometimes they hear noises coming from empty rooms.

Celeste's grandparents are strong believers in learning how to swim especially with the statistics surrounding Black people and swimming in this country and are determined to teach her. She ends up learning that her aunt whom she shares a resemblance with drowned when she was around her age. And they  

The strange noises continue and soon her brother and cousins are claiming Celeste is playing cruel pranks on them even though she swears she's not around when they're happening. The cousins are going to have to team up to rid themselves of the ghost that's haunting the house.

I will say this was less spooky than the cover implies especially when you uncover the truth nature of the ghost. So I'm not sure how middle grade readers looking for something truly horrific would react to this. But it is a great story about family and conquering your fears. It's well paced which made it very compulsively readable. And incorporating Celeste's family history made all the talk about the importance of swimming and historical events flow better.




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