Shadows

One week before Audrey Schultz's mother died the pair had a brief argument that ended with Audrey wishing her mother was dead. Now that it has happened, Audrey feels heavy guilt and grief. Her father, aunt, and uncle are also sad and are trying to make life without mom seem as normal as possible, but the guilt weighs heavy on Audrey's young shoulders. Audrey lives in Bellevue, Nebraska. That is near Omaha. Since her mom died, Audrey has been walking along the railroad tracks to be alone. She knows it is wrong. Mom's rule was never to go there. Yet that was the place that made Audrey feel just a little better. Then one day out there she meets Shadows. He is a silvery-coated collie with eerie blue eyes, a blue merle collie. They become friends. Shadows never lets Audrey touch him, he never comes around unless Audrey is alone, and he always gets scared and runs off whenever a train comes along the tracks. Audrey is certain the dog is real, but who does he belong to? No one seems to know. Then her uncle tells her about a collie just like Shadows who was killed by a train years before. Audrey begins to search for information on the dog that had been killed; however, not all the answers are logical ones. **** This is a great chapter book for kids ages 8-12. Each chapter begins with a lovely illustration, enriched with tiny details. The only down side to the story, in my opinion, is that it ends too abruptly. I felt as though the last few pages were missing, but that was not the case. **** Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

"Weird" is not the word I would associate with this book. Lynn Hall deserves a lot of praise for dealing with some very difficult subjects - relationships between a single father and daughter, growing up, and of course death - in a very concise story (only 71 pages). The main character, Audrey, has just lost her mother to what we presume is leukemia, although Audrey just says "something in her blood cells." She meets a stray collie whom she names Shadows and begins to heal through talking and playing with him. One of the things I like most is that even though Audrey is an "unreliable narrator," she is entirely believable and the reader trusts her completely. Hall also grazes on some other issues - the fact that Audrey has been left alone with a father she doesn't know very well, leaving behind her imaginary animals, trying to be an adult in the house.One of my few complaints about the book is that Audrey and her father never really discussed her mother's death, so the reader can only hope that some kind of talk will be forthcoming - specifically that someday Audrey will be convinced that she did not cause her mother's death.Yes, the dog Shadows has been dead for five years, and perhaps he was just a ghost, but one of the most beautiful lines in the whole book comes in a letter from the dog's former owner:"I would like to believe that somehow he knew there was a girl who needed him, and that the great love he held for all people enabled him to cross over the invisible wall that separates us from those who have gone on to another form of life, which we call death."The only plot issue I had was that the book ends immediately after Audrey finds out that Shadows was indeed dead, so the reader can only assume that she never goes looking for the "ghost" again and starts to deal with her mother's death on her own.This is one of my favourite books from childhood; it makes me cry every time. I brought it with me to college as a short comfort read.

In this book, Audrey Jean Schultz is just getting over the death of her mother and trying to survive without her. One day she finds a ghost dog, who had really died a long time ago. Audrey was a good character, but the book was a little too weird for my taste. Ghost dogs and animals coming back to life are not my type. If you like weird books, this book may be for you.