By Natalie Lloyd
4RBooks: 5/6, grades 4-7
Amazon rating: 4.7/5, grades 3-7
Good Reads: 4.13/5
Common Sense Media: Not Reviewed
227 pages
Synopsis:
Emma Pearl Casey is a typical 11-year-old girl. She doesn’t like her hair, she worries about mean girls at school, and she has a wonderful best friend, Cody Belle. But Emma is also different. She lives with her grandmother and brother above the Boneyard Café located directly in front of the Blackbird Hollow cemetery. She gives tours of the cemetery for interested locals. She has a dog, Bearclaw, and a crow, Penny Lane.
Emma is also different because she is waiting for her “Destiny Dream.” All the women in her family have a dream at some point in their life that points them in the direction of their destiny: country singers, scientists, and war spies. They keep track of the dream in a family journal, the “Book of Days.” Emma’s mother shared the family history with Emma just before she passed away.
When Emma finally gets her dream, she is confused by the image of a key until she realizes her dream is encouraging her to find the long, lost treasure of the conductor, a local legend. If she can locate it, she can save her family home and business which is in danger of being bought out by a local developer.
With the help Cody Belle, Emma starts to explore the Hollow and the cemetery, looking for clues and answers. They are helped by their new friend Earl, a tornado survivor who doesn’t speak anymore. They try to stay ahead of the developer who is also looking for the treasure. Nobody knows what they will find, but everyone is hoping it will solve their problems.
Parental Guidance: low
Ghost stories.
Small town superstitions.
Emma dealing with “the big empty,” the death of her mother.
Children disobeying parents and potentially putting themselves in
dangerous situations.
Recommendation:
This was a fun, interesting and quick read. Emma and her friend Cody Belle are quirky characters, the square pegs of their local school. Earl and his journey to trust life again make for a compelling subplot. The clues for the treasure are vague enough to keep the ending a complete surprise with a unique, historical twist.
The only negative to the book is all the superstitions and nods to the supernatural. If a child has a firm understanding on the Biblical principles of the spirit world this shouldn’t be a problem. Another fun Halloween read, and an opportunity for parents to talk with their children about issues related to death and the afterlife.
The book is set in the rural countryside. City children should enjoy the contrasts to their own life, but may have trouble connecting to the plot.
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