Shade

Gr 7 Up—Aura is planning to give her boyfriend, Logan, the perfect 17th birthday present—an intimate night together after his band concert—in this novel (Simon Pulse, 2010) by Jeri Smith-Ready. But things go terribly wrong, and Logan dies. Aura realizes it immediately because she was born after the Shift and can see ghosts. Not only can she see them, she can help them "pass over." Aura works for the court and "interprets" ghost testimony. She's attracted to Zachary, the new boy in town who was born just before the Shift, but Logan is still very much in her life. The plot is complicated, with a trial to determine the role of a record company in Logan's death, the mysteries of a gathering place where Aura's deceased mother spent some time, and the role of government officials who want to control the ghosts and simplify society. While the Shift is referred to often, it is never fully explained. Khristine Hvam assumes the role of a young, uncertain teenager when relating Aura's thoughts and feelings, and she switches easily into the Scottish accent of a more self-assured Zachary. She also captures Logan's initial arrogance and then his fear and uncertainty, and the anguish of the many ghosts who come in and out of Aura's life.—Edith Ching, Washington Latin Public Charter School, DC