Hilary McKay’s skillful storytelling succinctly sets the scene for readers in the opening scene and we are plunged straight into the peril of the tale. Main character Jodie – who is on a school field trip to the salt marshes and has been told not to go wandering about alone, has gone wandering about alone and is now trapped in the rising waters of a haunted creek in an attempt to rescue the dog she can hear yapping in terror.
How did Josie get stuck in the marsh alone? Why does Jodie think the march is haunted? Will she make it out alive? The questions raised in this tense opening draw us into the following chapters where we learn the answers, and more.
A reluctant participant on this residential field trip, Jodie’s loner tendencies are brought into sharp relief by the tight friendship group of girls Jodie is forced to share a dorm with. For all her quiet awkwardness, however, Jodie thinks nothing of breaking a few rules in order to escape the company of the other kids, the teacher, and the research centre staff. I love how the author characterises this in the casual way Jodie ducks under a stretch of red-and-white plastic tape marking off a prohibited area, or repeatedly evades everyone by hiding out on the out-of-bounds roof of the centre itself.
Jodie is far more interested in the distant yapping of a dog out on the salt marshes than she is in the people around her, so it is no surprise when she sets out to find the source of those distressing cries for help – alone.
The events that follow are as chilling as cold sea water swirling around Jodie’s waist, but heart-warming, too, when Jodie finally finds her voice and a connection she never even knew she needed.
Keith Robinson’s windswept and lonely cover brings Hilary’s vivid description of the salt marshes to life, and the illustrations peppered throughout the book are poignant and emotion-filled.
A compelling, unpredictable ghost story set against a vivid backdrop, beautifully written by master storyteller Hilary McKay. Super readable in classic Barrington Stoke style.
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