The Empty Mirror

Nick is an orphan who has grown up in his uncle Jack's care on the wild, wooded coast of New England. His parents died when he was a baby during a terrible influenza epidemic that swept the region not long after World War I. Nick first realizes something is wrong when he notices he no longer has a reflection. Then a neighbor he has known all his life accuses him of ignoring her. Soon Nick is blamed for all kinds of trouble around town. Is some other boy who looks like Nick creating all the problems? Nick suspects that something even stranger is going on. Ultimately he proves that someone else is trying to get him in trouble. Refusing to let this shadow of a boy take over his life, Nick develops a plan with his friend Gypsy to get rid of his mirror image for good. Award-winning author James Lincoln Collier has written a haunting story of two boys-one alive, one a ghost-who confront each other and their small town in a battle to determine who is the more deserving of the one life they seem to share.

From School Library Journal

Grade 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 © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 5-8. Orphaned by the 1918 influenza epidemic, 13-year-old Nick has been raised by his uncle Jack, a New England bachelor shopkeeper. Nick's reputation as a troublesome kid doesn't help him when he's wrongly accused of disrespect, and his puzzlement deepens when he discovers that he can no longer see his reflection in a mirror. More unfair accusations make it clear that someone who looks exactly like Nick is stirring up trouble. As Nick's doppelganger escalates his activities to criminal acts, the townspeople demand justice, and Nick finds his life in danger. Most of the townspeople and the ne'er-do-well Dauber family fit familiar stereotypes, but the awkward yet caring relationship between Nick and Uncle Jack give the supernatural story a credible base. The town frenzy is also frighteningly believable, and Nick's desperation becomes palpable. This eerie suspense tale will appeal to kids who enjoy plot-driven stories that give them a good scare. Linda PerkinsCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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.

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