Once, Jane was the big sister, teaching Lily to play make believe and protecting her from thunderstorms. But then Lily grew up. She started making friends and dating boys, while Jane wanted to go on playing make believe forever. For Jane, the line between fantasy and reality had always blurred, whereas Lily lived for a future bright with expectation and change. Inevitably, the sisters found a gulf widening between them-Lily reveling in her newfound love, while Jane could only watch, frustrated, from the sidelines. How had her little sister managed to eclipse her? Then tragedy struck. But the story was not over. . . . Adele Griffin has crafted a spellbinding book, told in the alternating voices of two very different sisters dwelling on opposite sides of life and death, who are bravely trying to overcome the void and bring light to each other. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Gr 7 Up-Griffin has created another well-crafted blend of reality and otherworldliness. Teen sisters Jane and Lily tell the story of their relationship in alternating chapters. The gradually developing plot brings a growing understanding that Jane is telling her story after her death. In life, she had a difficult time separating the real from the pretend. She needed to surround herself with items of comfort and preferred her grandparents' home to anyplace else on Earth; after she dies, she returns to their home and re-creates it as it was when they were alive. Attractive, popular Lily, one year younger than Jane, is coming to terms with her sister's death and mental illness. Also confronting her is the tight hold she has on her recently graduated boyfriend and her return to high school without him. Thoughtful, unique, and ultimately life-affirming, this is a fascinating take on the literary device of a main character speaking after death.-Crystal Faris, Nassau Library System, Uniondale, NY Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr. 7-10. Griffin returns to a topic she has tackled before, the loss of a sibling, but she frames the story in the alternating narratives of two sisters--one of whom is dead. The story begins with Jane visiting her grandparents and nursing her grudges about her younger, more popular sister, Lily. Told in the third person, Jane's restless recounting is followed by Lily's first-person narrative, which chronicles her romance with Caleb, a relationship that nourishes her and keeps her grounded as she tries to deal with Jane's death. Readers will finds themselves off balance at first as they switch between the narratives and try to understand Jane's reality. But they'll eventually learn that although Jane is dead, she is real enough to Lily, who can't move past the hole in her family. Griffin artfully dabs details on her canvas, then overlays her story with a supernatural patina that will immediately draw in the audience. More impressive is the way she shapes the sisters--each one with her own fears, wishes, and grievances that overlap to push the story forward. The conclusion, in which both Jane and Lily seek freedom, seems hurried, but the buildup is superbly accomplished, as each girl struggles with her ghosts. --Ilene Cooper Copyright 2005 Booklist From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.