Adult author Archer (Off Her Rocker) makes her YA debut with an evocative and unusual ghost story. Sixteen-year-old Tansy Piper is less than thrilled about being uprooted yet again so her novelist mother can work on a new book, and she is determined to hate her grandfather's tiny hometown of Cedar Canyon, Tex. Worse yet, their new house ("three stories of pure creepiness") is said to be haunted by the ghost of 17-year-old Henry Peterson. Tansy becomes increasingly intrigued by Henry's story, and she is stunned when her camera's viewfinder shows her black-and-white images of moments that have long passed, moments that include Henry. Feeling transported into the photographs, Tansy starts to spend more and more time in Henry's world. As the color in Tansy's world begins to drain away and fill Henry's colorless world, Tansy is pulled deeper inside until she's on the cusp of entering it forever. Archer's engrossing story gracefully weaves together the contemporary and historical into an eerie mystery, while examining relationships, reality, and the power of the mind. Ages 12–up. (Apr.)
Haunting and mysterious. Jennifer Archer delivers a supernatural read unlike any other! Spooky in the best way!
A tightly written time-travel fantasy. The quirky characters; romantic triangles; and ghosts and haunted houses make for a winning, mixed-genre offering that’s sure to attract a wide audience of teen readers.
Tansy Piper is moving once again. Her mother, a very popular horror author, feels the need to move to the location of each novel as she writes it, dragging Tansy and her grandfather with her around the country. This time, it is back to the small Texas town where Grandpa Dan grew up, but instead of pleasing him, the move sends him and Tansy deep into the past—literally. Tansy finds some intriguing artifacts in the old outdoor cellar. A journal of poems, a crystal, and an old pocket watch link her to a world decades in the past. It is through the viewfinder of her old camera, however, that Tansy actually gets to see her grandfather and his friends in their teen years, and learns about the dilemma that has haunted him all his life. The more Tansy becomes obsessed with this black-and-white world, the more it begins to take on living color—and her real world begins to fade. In her first novel for teens, Archer hits the mark right on. She opens the reader to the frustrations Tansy feels from repeatedly losing old friends and starting at a new school again and again. Tansy quickly labels her new classmates: the popular kids, the goodie-goodies, and the jocks. When she finds a kindred spirit in Bethany, the school "outcast," she discovers she may have made errors with her quick judgments. Allison was not always so gaggingly good, and Tate, the handsome jock, has a kinder, more intelligent side. The image they show in school protects their more vulnerable, real personality. These new friends help Tansy find the truth on both sides of her camera—things are not always as they appear. Reviewer: Laura Canales
Gr 7–10—Best-selling horror novelist Millicent Moon relocates to the site of each of her working manuscripts to guarantee verisimilitude, and the constant traveling makes her teenage daughter more than a little irritated. Tansy Piper can carry her passion for photography with her wherever she goes, but she is tired of new towns, new schools, and new people. This particular small town, Cedar Canyon, TX, is where her grandfather grew up, and it soon becomes clear that it holds more than just pleasant memories. The prologue reveals that Henry Peterson, the restless spirit of a young man believed to have killed himself, intends to contact Tansy; what isn't clear is whether his intent is benign. Tansy discovers that Papa Dan was Henry's friend; their shared history is revealed to her through the lens of her camera, and through a crystal pendant that makes her an active participant in past events. Ultimately, Tansy is witness to the truth of a long-ago tragedy, and through her a grievous wrong is righted. While her narrator is occasionally self-absorbed, Archer has her plot threads firmly in hand, and characterizations are agreeably constructed. The ghostly manifestations are well integrated, and the images of poems, nightingales, and watches frozen in time are deftly handled. Tansy's emotional world builds slowly: that she fears she is losing her mind, that she is in danger of succumbing to Henry's questionably sane manipulations, become clear. The action picks up when she and her hard-won friends (including a possible romantic interest) pool their knowledge of past and present events in order to bring peace to Henry. The outcome is satisfyingly tidy, and the expected ending neatly achieved.—Janice M. Del Negro, GSLIS Dominican University, River Forest, IL
This inventive ghost story mixes eerie suspense with time travel. Sixteen-year-old Tansy has adjusted to moving constantly, as her author mother changes locations with every book she writes. The tiny Texas Panhandle town they land in this time, however, might be Tansy's last if she can't escape danger from a devious ghost. A photographer, Tansy begins seeing people and scenes from before World War II through her camera lens. Soon she discovers that she can enter her black-and-white photographs to meet Henry, a boy who reportedly committed suicide in the 1940s. In the photographs, she takes on the persona of Isabel, Henry's girlfriend. Even Tansy realizes the danger when she begins to see the world in color while inhabiting the gray-colored photographs and at the same time the present day begins turning to black and white. As Henry's world pulls her in, Tansy can't decide which she prefers. Present-day Tate, the handsome, poetry-writing local football hero, competes with Henry as a potential boyfriend. The story's preface, written from Henry's ghostly point of view, makes it clear that Henry wants to trap Tansy in his past. The preface adds suspense but also removes any doubt about Henry's existence, which might otherwise have been intriguingly ambiguous to readers. Archer writes distinctive characters and paces the story well, producing a supernatural tale with depth and originality. (Paranormal thriller. 12 & up)
