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THE GHOST OF LOST ISLAND by Liza Ketchum Murrow

THE GHOST OF LOST ISLAND

by Liza Ketchum Murrow

Pub Date: April 15th, 1991
ISBN: 0-8234-0874-4
Publisher: Holiday House

A local legend about the ghost of a girl who drowned trying to cross a dangerous breakwater has a present-day sequel. Camping on an island while helping Grandfather round up sheep, Gabea rather fearful sixth-graderis told the story of Delia, said to haunt the island 60 years after her death; he even sees a ghostly face peering through the cabin window. Then items like rope and a bucket go missing, suggesting that the presence may be an intruderbut it is Delia, here for a last goodby to her childhood home; jilted by her fiance, she left a clue to her supposed death and has spent a life wandering alone. Believing she's in need of care, Grandfather plans to call the sheriff; Gabe and his bossy but seasick-prone sister help Delia escape to continue her solitary but independent existence. Despite some creeping about in the dark, this never gets particularly scary; and while the improvement in sibling relations as a result of the dangerous escapade is believable, the mystery about Delia is a bit tame. Murrow makes a point of the sheep (she even includes a glossary of shearing and herding terms), yet the season is problematic: lambing and shearing times and weather warm enough for shorts are not the same in Maine. Smoothly written and more popular in appeal than Fire in the Heart (1989), but less interesting. (Fiction. 9-12)