Absent
Gr 9 Up-After falling off the roof during an egg-drop experiment for science class, Paige finds herself relegated to haunting the halls of the high school from which she'll never graduate. The 17-year-old is not alone, though, and finds new friends in Brooke and Evan, who also died on school grounds. Together they watch the students and wish for the lives they could have had. As the school year continues, popular girl Kelsey starts a rumor that Paige jumped and committed suicide. Desperate to somehow prove Kelsey's words false, Paige shadows her every move, until she discovers that she can inhabit, and manipulate, others. From Kelsey to her best friend to her secret ex-boyfriend, Paige possesses her classmates, trying over and over to quash Kelsey's hateful rumor. She finds that her actions have larger consequences, though, and that perhaps she is not the only one who has been dabbling in the art of possession. Williams presents readers with an engrossing supernatural story that feels genuine. The ghosts' despondency and Paige's quest for revenge and yearning for acknowledgment will ring true with teens. Readers will be engrossed until the very end, when the students, both living and dead, finally find what they need to move on.-Jessica Miller, New Britain Public Library, CTα(c) Copyright 2013.  Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc.  No redistribution permitted.