The Light in the Lake
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Go on a journey of discovery, magic, science, and hope with this remarkable debut novel about a girl's powerful connection to a mysterious lake.
Twelve-year-old Addie should stay away from Maple Lake. After all, her twin brother, Amos, drowned there only a few months ago. But its crisp, clear water runs in Addie's veins, and the notebook Amos left behind -- filled with clues about a mysterious creature that lives in the lake's inky-blue depths -- keeps calling her back.
So despite her parents' fears, Addie accepts a Young Scientist position studying the lake for the summer, promising she'll stick to her job of measuring water pollution levels under adult supervision. Still, Addie can't resist the secrets of Maple Lake. She enlists the lead researcher's son, Tai, to help her investigate Amos's clues. As they collect evidence, they also learn that Maple Lake is in trouble -- and the source of the pollution might be close to home. Addie finds herself caught between the science she has always prized and the magic that brings her closer to her brother, and the choice she makes will change everything.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Three months before the start of this debut novel, 12-year-old Addie's twin brother, Amos, fell through the ice into Maple Lake, the deepest lake in Vermont and their favorite place. Addie is still grieving when she earns the opportunity to join a local Young Scientist summer program, assisting a university's biological station in its investigation of Maple Lake's pollution. It's Addie's dream to become an aquatic biologist, and although she feels that the lake remains "a part of me that hurts to look at," she feels deeply connected to it. Amos took meticulous notes about a creature he believed lived in its waters, "something ancient and huge and shining," and after Addie is given a tooth too large to be a whale's, she interprets it as her first clue. With a new friend, Tai, at her side, she sets out to solve Amos's mystery, as well as the source of the lake's pollution. In Baughman's skillful handling, Addie's memories of her brother and her first-person voice are both heartbreaking and hopeful. The novel offers a gentle, introspective exploration of grief and the wonder and fragility of nature, creating a beautiful and dynamic world in which the scientific method and magic coexist. Ages 8 12.