Shadow People

by Joyce McDonald

Book Overview

Gabriel, Lydia, Alex, and Hollis are four totally different teenagers who were thrown together by accident. Or maybe they were destined to meet, for they all share something that unites them and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385326629
• ISBN13: 9780385326629
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Length: 281 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 8.6"
• Age Range: 12 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12

Customer Reviews

Intense, gripping, a must read

Gabriel has moved to a small town after the death of his brother Ben. Ben's death left a huge gap in his family, one that is impossible to fill. His mother, father, and sister are all trying to deal with the pain by themselves, but Ben is sure that his family is going to be torn apart. Then Ben meets Lydia, Alex and Hollis. His new friends become almost family and he feels a connection to them that he hasn't felt in a long time. Then he and Gem start to get closer and he finds himself caught between his friends and Gem - a dangerous place to be for all of them.From the opening pages of this book you are taken on a roller coaster ride that drags you through the lives of five young people in an isolated town in the US. Gabriel is the one who really draws you in and he is the main ignition switch for the action that leaps from page to page. All of them have their own individual pains that they need to address, but Gabriel is the one haunted by the Shadow People that lend the book its title.I have also read "Swallowing Stones" by this author and she deserves recognition. her books are easy to read even though the tackle ideas that are hard to swallow. I loved this book and I can't wait to see what else this author has to offer. I don't want to spoil the end of the novel so all I will say is that McDonald has taken a real life situation and given it a real life ending.

Intriguing and Mesmerizing

Joyce MacDonald's Shadow People is an intriuging and mesmerizing tale that will keep you up past your bedtime reading, and hold your attention to the very last word. A brilliant novel by a perceptive and gifted author.

Shedding Light on the Dark Side

This is a challenging book. It asks us to understand and sympathize with kids we would usually dismiss as dangerous and incomprehensible. However, many kids might actually identify with the characters in this book. Admitted outsiders will find a sympathetic voice in Joyce MacDonald. And everyone on the "inside" should read this to get an idea of how some kids disappear into the shadows. A story like this is a good start towards solving the problem of teen violence.

This author has her thumb on the pulse of today's teens...

What a great book! Joyce McDonald knows what kids today are feeling and thinking. This is an intimate look at the anger that drives so many kids. Read this book and begin to understand how even quiet kids can erupt into terrifying violence.

The antithesis of Harry Potter

This book is about kids in bad situations who, both unintentionally and intentionally, make things worse for themselves. They feel that they are so lost that there is no hope for redemption for themselves, and so they act out as a way to vent all the frustration and anger that is a result of these things. At first I really didn't like this book, but the further I read, the more into it I got. In a lot of ways, it portrays a realistic picture of the kind of world that a lot of kids nowadays are living in. I could identify with these "misfits" quite a bit myself. The problem is, none of the four "misfits" seem to have enough strength of character to try to halt the events which occur. And, while this is quite common, it seems that we can read about these kids every day in the newspaper, rather than have to read about them in a (fiction) book. However, there do seem to be a lot of people who have no understanding how these kids get into these situations, and this book can maybe be used to help enlighten them. Even so, by the end, i was caught up in the story and really hoping that by some miracle they could find a way out...