Suddenly Supernatural: School Spirit

This is a review from my 8 year-old daughter: "This story is about a girl named Kat whose mother is a medium. But not the size medium, the supernatural medium, who communicates with spirits. All until Kat finds out she's a medium, too! Now Kat and her best friend Jac have to help a spirit in their school cross over successfully. Will they make it? One reason I like this book is because it shows a lot of teamwork. There are some big words that older kids would know better than younger kids. This book can be a little creepy, so I recommend it to 9-12 year-olds. I really enjoyed this book and know you will, too!"

Never knowing who will show up at your house or when can be a difficult way to go through life. Just ask thirteen-year-old Kat. At a very young age she became accustomed to the fact that visitors liked to come and go at very strange hours of the day and night. But these weren't your typical visitors. No, these visitors didn't include pesky relatives, obnoxious neighbors, or even surprise deliveries. These visitors all had one very important thing in common: they weren't part of the living population. While Kat would love nothing more than to become on of the Satellite Girls, who spend their waking hours flipping their perfectly coiffed hair, and rotating around the glamorous Shoshanna Longbarrow, popularity most certainly seems out of the question. As the daughter of a hippie who doubles as a medium, Kat has never led the type of life that you see on teen sitcoms. Sure, she doesn't have to deal with never seeing her mother, or being shuffled from house to house week-by-week due to a divorce, but she does have to deal with the strange things that take place at her house every time someone new decides to come in for a landing. But now, ever since Kat turned thirteen-years-old, things have gone a bit more wacky. For now, after all these years of hearing her mother's stories, Kat has some stories of her own to tell. That's right, when Kat turned thirteen-years-old, she inherited her mother's medium capabilities, and now she can see and speak to dead people as well. Now, with her new best friend, and cello prodigy, Jac, by her side, Kat has been contacted by the spirit of a flute-playing teenager named Suzanne who died back in 1960. Kat knows that Suzanne needs her help in order to rest in peace, but it'll take the brains of both Kat and Jac to learn Suzanne's secrets and help her to cross over peacefully, all while attempting to survive the trials and tribulations of middle school. I always love fiction about the supernatural, so I knew that I had to read Elizabeth Cody Kimmel's SUDDENLY SUPERNATURAL: SCHOOL SPIRIT when I first spotted it. Kimmel has created gold. Kat is such a relatable, down-to-earth character whose fear and excitement about being a medium is easily shared by the reader as they get to learn more about her. Jac, on the other hand, is a pop culture loving geek who you can't help but love. Her dramatic antics and self-assured ways make her the perfect contrast to Kat's more meek personality. And the way that Kimmel has introduced Jac's cello as a character all its own known as the "ball and chain" adds a strange sense of humor to the tale that is quite compelling. Kimmel paints Kat as a teen ghost whisperer who you can't get enough of; and the fact that a sequel is on the way is simply the icing on the cake. A bumpy thrill ride you'll find difficult to put down! Erika Sorocco

Kat just wants to be normal, to fit in, but this is very difficult if your mother is a medium-and you have started seeing ghost yourself. Ever since Kat turned thirteen, ghosts have been appearing unexpectedly, and strange things have been happening around her. Kat has tried to ignore the problem by refusing to let the ghosts know she sees them-but the problem appears to be escalating. Now she is even seeing at least one ghost at school, and this one seems determined to get her attention. It isn't that Kat wants to be mean and refuse to help the ghost, but she doesn't want anyone to think she is weird, so she can't acknowledge her. Author Kimmel has done a brilliant job of illustrating the trials and tribulations of a young teen girl's life in middle school while she comes to terms with the fact that she is not an average teen. Neither Kat nor her best friend Jac are average-both are very gifted, each with their own unique talent. But being gifted means "different," and for Kat that is like "the kiss of death." She'd rather go unnoticed than to be singled out. Unfortunately, ghosts don't care about Kat's problems, they just want their problems solved and mediums are the only people who can help them. It has always appeared to Kat that her mother must be a very generous, caring person to put up with being a medium. It isn't so much the ghost that Kat objects to, it is that people ask for her mother's help but them ignore her in public because they are not willing to acknowledge that they know the weird medium lady. Kat is resentful of this kind of treatment and is determined to be normal so she isn't treated that way. I found this story very cute and charming. A sequel is planned to - Suddenly Supernatural - School Spirit, and I am looking forward to reading about more adventures of Kat, middle school life, and the ghosts. Armchair Interviews says: Nice addition to any Young Adult library.

Dead people are ruining Kat's life. Seventh grade is hard enough, but when your mom is a medium and calls up spirits that then invade the house, inviting people over and trying to make friends is not easy. Things get worse when Kat herself starts to see spirits. She doesn't want to be a medium and isn't sure she's cut out for communicating with the dead. Plus, Kat's afraid that her family's dark secret will jeopardize her newfound friendship with Jac, the new girl at school. When the spirit of former student, Suzanne Bennis, appears to Kat in the school library seeking her help, Kat can't ignore her powers any longer. Will Kat be able to help Suzanne? And will Jac stay with her or think her new friend is crazy? This was such a fun read! Ghosts and mystery take center stage of the story, but there is also the typical middle school drama of popular crowds and mean girls. The friendship between Kat and Jac is what makes this story. Kat is funny as a reluctant medium and her inner thoughts about life and school made me laugh out loud. Jac is full of spunk and everyone should have a best friend like her. Perfect for fans wanting a middle school story with a paranormal twist, SCHOOL SPIRIT is the first in the SUDDENLY SUPERNATURAL series. Reviewed by: Sarah Bean the Green Bean Teen Queen

So I'm on a plane ride from Seattle to New York and wouldn't you know it but I don't bring enough books to read. Under normal circumstances I have a problem with overstocking my purse with reading material. This time the opposite is true. So I pull out anything I happen to have on hand, and most of it is simply terrible. I'm alternating between bad crazy books and bad depressing books in an effort to simply make the time go faster when I remember that a literary agent I know, who happens to be taking the same flight as me, gave me Suddenly Supernatural not a day before. She had assured me that it was great, which I took with a grain of salt or two. Of course the book's agent is going to think it's the best single thing since sliced bread. No surprises there. But the pickings are slim and my flight has been delayed another hour and a half (thank YOU, Delta). I decide to give the book a go. As a children's librarian I've trained myself to look for certain qualities in my fiction for kids. Is it interesting? Is it good? Does it fall into the usual trips, traps, and snares common to the genre? But to my amazement this book sucks me in instantly. With a rare combination of readability and genuine middle school trials and tribulations, author Elizabeth Cody Kimmel gives a well-placed kick to a genre that deserves a little rejiggering here and a little remastering there. A book I can honestly recommend to any kid looking for some great ghostly fare. Seventh grader Kat has a situation on her hands. First of all, her mother's a medium. "And I don't mean the kind that fits in between small and large." Rather she's the kind of person who contacts ghosts and spirits for a living. Kat's never really had a problem with this job in the past, though certainly it would be more restful if her mom sought employment in another occupation. No, it's not until Kat realizes that she herself is beginning to see ghosts everywhere that she starts freaking out. It's not as if she's the most popular girl at school to begin with, and now she has to keep from talking or even noticing the dead people floating all around her? Thank you, but no. Fortunately Kat's just made a new friend at school with secrets of her own and the two of them are getting wrapped up in a mystery involving a dead student, a music program, and an old woman who has carried a blanket of shame with her for over forty years. This middle school medium may not want to bring her powers to class, but it's clear that there's a reason they're there, and nothing's going to change that. There are plenty of books out there that use supernatural metaphors to describe middle school and puberty. Buffy the Vampire Slayer did it on television with vampires. Dusssie by Nancy Springer gave menstruation a medusa-inspired twist. Even Perry Moore's Hero was able to equate superpowers with coming out of the closet. The Suddenly Supernatural books are, in a sense, quieter fare than any of these. Kat hits puberty and suddenly