The Ghost in Allie's Pool

Eighth grade goes from fun to disaster when Allie's best friend, Marissa, dumps her for the popular kids. Suddenly, Allie finds herself sitting alone in the middle-school cafteria with no one to call on her new cell phone. Angry and frustrated, Allie flings Marissa'ls friendship necklace into her pool, and to her astonishment, the ghost of Dorothy May — the ancestor who sailed on the Mayflower and whom she's researching for English class — appears, maybe to offer a little help. But if Marissa and her new friends find out Allie's talking to a ghost, Allie will sit alone in the cafeteria for the rest of her life. But can Dorothy May's different point of view about stuff Allie takes for granted — baths, bikinis, computers, friendship — be just what Allie needs to navigate social life in the 8th grade?

"Bodi's affecting debut novel balances a familiar fictional theme with an inventive historical premise. When Marissa abandons Allie for two new best friends, Allie muses, 'They're beautiful and great lacrosse players. They're also kind of mean. In our school, you can't get any cooler than that.' Hurt, Allie throws out her window her half of the best-friends charm she shared with Marissa and it lands in the swimming pool. When she decides to rescue it from the water, she hears a voice imploring her not to jump. She looks up to find Dorothy May, who jumped off the Mayflowerto her death because her husband, William Bradford, did not love her. She tells Allie, who is descended from Bradford and his second wife, 'I am a friend come to be of assistance to thee.' Through her research for a family-tree project and her conversations with Dorothy (who reappears repeatedly, each time summoned by an image of water), Allie learns a great deal about the harrowing crossing of the Mayflower, about 17th-century life and about the anguish and desperation of Dorothy, who was forced to leave her young son behind in England. Dorothy also provides Allie with friendship that she desperately needs, particularly when she discovers just how mean Marissa's new friends can be. Allie's crisp narrative lends credibility to both strains of plot, each of which comes to a satisfying conclusion. An intriguing postscript: Bodi is a descendant of Bradford's second wife and her first husband. Ages 10-up." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"'Bodi's affecting debut novel balances a familiar fictional theme with an inventive historical premise. When Marissa abandons Allie for two new best friends, Allie muses, 'They're beautiful and great lacrosse players. They're also kind of mean. In our school, you can't get any cooler than that.' Hurt, Allie throws out her window her half of the best-friends charm she shared with Marissa and it lands in the swimming pool. When she decides to rescue it from the water, she hears a voice imploring her not to jump. She looks up to find Dorothy May, who jumped off the Mayflower to her death because her husband, William Bradford, did not love her. She tells Allie, who is descended from Bradford and his second wife, 'I am a friend come to be of assistance to thee.' Through her research for a family-tree project and her conversations with Dorothy (who reappears repeatedly, each time summoned by an image of water), Allie learns a great deal about the harrowing crossing of the Mayflower, about 17th-century life and about the anguish and desperation of Dorothy, who was forced to leave her young son behind in England. Dorothy also provides Allie with friendship that she desperately needs, particularly when she discovers just how mean Marissa's new friends can be. Allie's crisp narrative lends credibility to both strains of plot, each of which comes to a satisfying conclusion. An intriguing postscript: Bodi is a descendant of Bradford's second wife and her first husband. Ages 10-up.' Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Just wait until you meet Allie and her mysterious friend in this imaginative, satisfying story. Heart stopping and unusual, I couldn't put it down. You won't be able to either." Patricia Reilly Giff, Newbery Honor Book author of Lily's Crossing and Pictures of Hollis Woods