Spellbinder - A Review

Spellbiner - Helen Stringer
Received from Shelf Awarness/Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for review.

Product Details

• Pub. Date: September 2009
• Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
• Format: Hardcover, 384pp
• Age Range: 12 and up

• ISBN-13: 9780312387631
• ISBN: 0312387636

Synopsis

Belladonna Johnson can see ghosts. It’s a trait she’s inherited from her mother’s side of the family, like blue eyes or straight hair. And it’s a trait she could do without, because what twelve-year-old wants to be caught talking to someone invisible?

It is convenient, though, after Belladonna’s parents are killed in a car accident. They can live with her the same as always, watching the same old TV shows in their same old house. Nothing has changed . . . until everything changes.

One night, with no warning, they vanish into thin air—along with every other ghost in the world. It’s what some people think ghosts are supposed to do, but Belladonna knows it’s all wrong. They may not be living, but they’re not supposed to be gone.

With the help of her classmate Steve, a master of sneaking and spying, Belladonna is left to uncover what’s become of the spirits and to navigate a whole world her parents have kept well-hidden. If she can’t find her way, she’ll lose them again—this time for good.

My Thoughts:

This is a cute story involving a girl, her friend, and a bunch of ghosts including her parents who had died in a car accident the previous year. The ghosts start disappearing and she's finds out the doors to other dimensions are closing and it's up to her and a few zany characters to stop it. See in her world ghosts give you your dreams at night and without the ghosts you don't dream and if you don't dream you eventually die. So her job is to figure out how to get the ghosts back and set the worlds straight.

I enjoyed characters. The adults at times annoyed me but I'm sure that was the intent. We all know how parents and adults alike can drive kids nuts and same goes for kids driving us adults nuts.

This is definitely a book for the younger age groups, not that adults won't enjoy it because I did. It was a quick, enjoyable read. I would have no qualms recommending this book to people especially the younger crowd. I think they would really enjoy the fantasy aspect of the book.