By: Sari Bodi Publisher: Brown Barn Books Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Brown Barn Books Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 178 Publication Date: May 31, 2007 Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Middle School is never a piece of cake, but it's even harder when you lose your best friend to the "cool kids". You know the cool kids with belly-button rings, tattoos, packs of cigarettes in their stylish tiny purses and the mean personality.
Allie is smart, cute, not too fat, not too thin, and just not one of the cool kids. Her best friend Marissa is... and eighth grade is about to begin.
When Marissa abandons her, Allie angrily flings her friendship necklace into the backyard pool. To her astonishment, the ghost of Dorothy May, a Mayflower ancestor, appears, maybe to help her with 8th grade problems. Dorothy May's 17th century Puritan perspective gives Allie a new take on friendship, happiness, and even the 8th grade.
The Ghost in Allie's Pool pulls in the reader from the first paragraph. In Allie's authentic voice, author Sari Bodi addresses bullying, peer pressure and conformity. It is a book that teens will want to read and their mothers and teachers will want to talk about.
couldn't put it down--and I'm 42! I just previewed this book for my kids and absolutely loved it! Sari Bodi has done so many wonderful things at once--the dead-on dialogue, the graceful history lessons, the humor. As a parent I enjoyed the appearance of moms, dads, & teachers who--in most cases--are affectionate and actually helpful, unlike so many adults in kids' novels. And I love having a book for my son and daughter that features a strong girl and an openminded boy and a not-preachy blueprint for standing up to bullies (also rare in kid lit).
Courtesy of Teens Read Too Allie is not enjoying 8th grade. Ever since her best friend, Marissa, started preferring the "cool" kids to her oldest friend, Allie feels like everything has gone wrong. Allie can only imagine how much worse it would be if Marissa and her new friends knew about the ghost.
Somehow a ghost has appeared in Allie's pool. Not just any ghost, but the ghost of Dorothy May, Allie's ancestor who came over on the Mayflower! To make things even stranger, Dorothy is far from confined to the pool. She regularly appears in Allie's room, she can change her clothes and hair, and Allie can even touch her!
Dorothy and Allie seem to have quite a bit more in common than genetics, though their outlooks on the world are considerably different. Maybe, just maybe, Dorothy can help Allie with more than her English report. It's even possible that Allie might have something to offer Dorothy in return. As interesting as it is to hang out with Dorothy, Allie does wish that she had some visible, living friends. Otherwise, Allie's not sure she'll make it through 8th grade, much less to high school.
Let's be honest, middle school stinks for a lot of people. Kids are mean, people you thought you knew change out of nowhere, and everything feels very unstable. Allie is a perfect example of all of this. Her story is extremely realistic, and sadly common, except for the ghost part. Boy, do I wish I'd had a Dorothy May to help me!
While this is a good, sweet, positive growing up kind of story, it doesn't stop there. There is some history, of course. A look at the differences, and similarities, between life now and life way back when. Mostly, though, it's about appreciating yourself, and other people, for who they really are.
Reviewed by: Carrie Spellman
Blast from the Past I love family history! Listening to my grandmother's tales lead me to search for my own Mexican roots. Through this research came the idea of a young Latina heroine finding her own heritage and planted the seed for the novel EARRINGS OF IXTUMEA.
In the book THE GHOST IN ALLIE'S POOL, the main character Allie's mother is fascinated about their ancestry that could be traced back to the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock. But that doesn't interest Allie. She's more concerned about the change in her former best friend Marissa, who's decided to dump her in favor of the two popular girls at school. Allie dreads the thought of being friendless. But during an English assignment, Allie writes journal entries from the viewpoint of another Mayflower person, Dorothy May, someone who fell from the Mayflower ship to her death. Imagine Allie's surprise when the ghost of Dorothy appears to her. While Marissa and her new friends make Allie's life hard, Dorothy helps Allie on how to gain the courage to be true to herself.
I really liked the premise of this novel. I always wondered what it would be like to have my own bisabela-great-grandmother-appear to me, especially when I was searching for the truth of my own heritage. This book will appeal to younger readers with the history of the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock. Also teens will relate with the cyber bullying in the book and how hard it is finding friends and making new ones. But the biggest plus of this book is that Allie finds the courage to be honest with herself.
An intriguing read Reviewed by Brianne Plach (age 9) for Reader Views (7/07)
Did your best friend ever abandon you to be one of the "in-crowd?" Marissa and Allie have been best friends for many years. What makes Marissa prefer being with Crystal and Suzanne rather than Allie?
Allie has been researching the people who came over on the Mayflower for a project at school. She is positive that she has an ancestor who was aboard the Mayflower on its voyage to America. Marissa thinks Allie is obsessed with finding out more about her ancestry than being popular and accepted into "the group" before entering high school next year. Allie is surprised when she throws her friendship necklace into the pool and meets Dorothy May. Allie is the only one who can talk to and see this ghost.
"The Ghost in Allie's Pool," by Sari Bodi, is very intriguing. You find yourself hoping that the ghost can help the two friends make amends. This is a very imaginative story which is very hard to put down until you reach its last page. Talking to a ghost is like a fantasy, but at least Allie gets some answers to the questions that are bugging her. Take a plunge and meet Allie and the ghost in her pool!
LOVE THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love the plot and the way it's written. I read it once and couldn't stop reading the last few chapters again and again. And now I find myself reading the whole book again!!!!!! Trust me, once you start reading this book, you won't want to stop! I rate this book 5 stars and if I could I'd rate it much more.
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