THROUGH HER EYES

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)