There are ghosts at Bird Lake, and they're haunting Mitch and Spencer. Not the Halloween kind, but ghosts of the past. Memories of how life was beforeโbefore the divorce, before the accident. Can their ghosts bring Mitch and Spencer together, as friends? Or will their secrets keep them apart?
Mitch feels isolated at his grandparentsโ house and canโt help hating his father, who walked out on him and his mom two and a half weeks earlier. Spencerโs family has decided itโs finally time to return to Bird Lake, years after his brother, Matty, drowned there. Both boys arrive at the lake scarred and fragile, but as they become friends, the sharp edges of their lives smooth out and, slowly, they are able to start healing.
โSuperbly crafted. A โmust haveโ for every library.โย โSchool Library Journalย (starred review)
โIn a novel as tender as his acclaimedย Oliveโs Ocean, Henkes probes the psyches of two boys facing family conflicts.โโPublishers Weeklyย (starred review)
Kevin Henkes has been praised both as a writer and as an illustrator and is the recipient of the Childrenโs Literature Legacy Award for his lasting contribution to literature for children. He received the Caldecott Medal for Kittenโs First Full Moon; Caldecott Honors for Waiting and Owen; two Newbery Honors, one for Oliveโs Ocean and one for The Year of Billy Miller; and Geisel Honors for Waiting and Penny and Her Marble. His other books include The World and Everything in It; A House; A Parade of Elephants; Chrysanthemum; and the beloved Lillyโs Purple Plastic Purse. Kevin Henkes lives with his family in Madison, Wisconsin.