WALK OF THE SPIRITS

Having lost their home and all their possessions in a hurricane, Miranda Barnes and her mother are forced to seek refuge in St. Yvette, La., with relatives she has never met. At her new school, Miranda and the tightly knit group of friends who have adopted her into their circle begin to ferret out the dark secrets of St. Yvette in order to create a “ghost walk” for their history project. As she works on this class project and gets to know her estranged grandfather, Miranda discovers that ghosts and spirits can be all too real. It turns out that she and her grandfather share a special talent: They can hear the spirits’ calls for help. Romance, danger and supernatural thrills abound as Miranda comes to terms with her destiny and makes a place for herself in her new home. Unfortunately, Etienne, a Cajun and one of Miranda’s new friends, is disappointingly stereotyped in both behavior and speech patterns. Despite this, Cusick’s fans will no doubt devour this new title, as will fans of Joan Lowery Nixon and Vivian Vande Velde. (Fiction. 12+)