  | Forgotten girl Author: Brown, India Hill | |
| Price: $21.88 | ||
Summary:
When eleven-year-old Iris sneaks out at night to make snow angels, she was not expecting to raise the ghost of Avery Moore, a girl her own age; but bringing to light the segregated and abandoned black cemetery seems like the perfect way to help Avery get the recognition she craves, and it will also be a good idea for the school project about the history of her small North Carolina town. But Avery may have something more sinister in mind for Iris.
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| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: MG Reading Level: 4.70 Points: 6.0 Quiz: 503774 |
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (08/15/19)
School Library Journal (00/11/19)
Booklist (10/15/19)
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (00/12/19)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 10/15/2019 Iris often has trouble differentiating between reality and her nightmares. This is especially true when the nightmares become so real that she can literally feel the goosebumps raise on her skin. One night she realizes her dreams might be more than what they seem when she wakes to her window blown wide open and the distant shadow of a young girl calling out to her from the woods by her house. Inspired by her nightmare, Iris sets out to learn the origin of the shadowed girl and learns that the woods she plays in were once a segregated cemetery for Black citizens. In Brown’s debut, she sets the stage for a promising writing career as she crafts strong middle-grade characters who will undoubtedly be enjoyed by children and adults alike. The pacing of the plot will surely send a chill through the readers' spines as they follow Iris and her journey with the paranormal. Brown takes on the daunting task of conveying fright and the growing realization of marginalization through child’s voices with ease in this eerie read. - Copyright 2019 Booklist.
School Library Journal - 11/01/2019 Gr 3–7—Iris is a young African American girl who loves the snow and adventure. She had been warned by her parents not to play in the woods behind her house. One night, Iris gets her best friend Daniel to sneak out into the woods to play in the snow. They stumble upon an abandoned graveyard and Iris uncovers the name Avery Moore on one of the tombstones and decides to find out who she was. Avery begins to visit Iris in her dreams, asking for help to be remembered. Iris convinces Daniel to make segregated graveyards the focus of their group project at school. Their initial research turns up little evidence of Avery's life or death. A conversation with Daniel's grandmother Suga begins to point them in the right direction. Iris and Daniel will have to work together to make sure their voices are heard at school and that Avery Moore is remembered. This is a story about the ways African American communities have been and continue to be marginalized. America's segregated past and the structures still in place to keep us separate are explored through Avery's experiences then and Iris's experiences now. The horror elements in the story are fantastically creepy and the author uses a mixture of urban legends and tall tales to create a sense of fear and foreboding. VERDICT A solid title for public and school libraries in search of horror with roots in black history.—Desiree Thomas, Worthington Library, OH - Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
