Empty Mirror

From The Critics

Imagine waking up one morning feeling not quite like yourself. You take a walk by a pond and when you look in it, you have no reflection. This is the dilemma that faces 13-year-old Nick Hodges. Nick, an orphan being raised by his Uncle Jack, is also being accused of crimes around town that he knows he didn't commit. Confused and upset, Nick can only confide in his friend, Gypsy, an outcast because of her nationality. Determined to find his reflection and the person responsible for ruining his name, Nick learns more about his past and the influenza epidemic that swept his town when he was a baby. With innumerable suspenseful scenes, this book will leave a chill running down anyone's spine. Not only does the book deal with problems teenagers face, such as feeling like you don't fit it, but it also offers a history lesson about a serious time when illness destroyed entire towns. This book has a great story and good ending and will keep you on your toes the whole time. 2004, Bloomsbury Press, 192 pp., Ages young adult.
—Lyra Heiser-Washington

Children's Literature - Leslie Rounds

Thirteen-year-old Nick has lived with his Uncle Jack ever since his parents died in the influenza epidemic of 1918. Suddenly, Nick develops a bad reputation in his small New England town as his apparent double arrives and begins to cause serious trouble. Incidents escalate from mere rudeness to arson, and then, possibly, even murder. Townspeople quickly lose patience with Nick and he finds himself on the run, with only the help of his best friend, Gyspy, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks with issues of her own, and the ever-steady Uncle Jack. When Nick discovers that he no longer has a reflection, and that the evil boy appears linked to one who died in the epidemic, the book quickly changes from mystery to horror story. Ultimately, Nick has to find a way to prove to the townsfolk that there is a double, without getting caught by them himself. The easy-going relationship Nick shares with his uncle adds a level of believability to the book. Plot twists, the supernatural element, and a first person narrative all help to make this an excellent choice for reluctant readers.

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8-Nick Hodges, a 13-year-old orphan with the reputation of being a troublemaker, lives with his Uncle Jack in a small coastal New England village in 1931. His parents both died in the influenza epidemic of 1918, which the villagers are reluctant to talk about. The story opens with Nick's waking from a disturbing dream in which he feels he has lost something. Soon he is accused of not speaking to a neighbor at the pond, when he was miles from there at that time. Investigating at the pond with his friend, Gypsy Dauber, Nick is stunned to see that he has no reflection. He continues to be seen at destructive incidents that increase in their severity: breaking windows of the church; setting fire to the school; and cutting boats loose, one of which has a passed-out drunk aboard. The townspeople are ready to hang Nick for murder or send him to a mental institution when he continues to insist that he is innocent. A gravestone for Jared Solters, a boy of Nick's age who died in the epidemic, provides the clue that causes the teen to investigate the epidemic and learn why Jared wants to inhabit his body and live out the remainder of his life. Some lessons on the importance of not forgetting the past are included in this fast-paced novel that will hook readers with a spooky ghost story while giving them interesting historical information.-Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Prolific author Collier presents an odd and oddly compelling tale of a young boy haunted by a vengeful spirit and his own tragic past. Set in a New England coastal village, the story centers on 13-year-old Nick, orphaned as a baby in the 1918 influenza epidemic. Nick is known for getting into trouble now and then, making it hard for him to defend himself when a mysterious double appears, seeming to be bent on ruining his already tarnished reputation and ultimately claiming his life. Occasionally slow-moving but always atmospheric, the first-person narration follows Nick from the first moment he notices that his reflection has disappeared to his final clever confrontation with the diabolical double. Secondary characters are clearly, if sketchily, drawn and, like the archetypal small-town setting, serve to ground the story without dragging it down into unnecessary detail. While Collier's quirky tale requires more from readers than popular mass-market horror stories, his matter-of-fact tone makes even the ghostly elements seem bone-chillingly plausible. Spooky and satisfying. (Fiction. 10-14)