Whenever my mum decided to give me advice, it often sounded like this:
‘Amy, don’t bring an open umbrella into the house, because a ghost might be hiding under it.’
‘Amy, don’t touch the sleep on a cat’s eyes and then touch your own eyes, because you will see ghosts.’
‘Amy, never tweeze the hairs off the tops of your toes, or you will see ghosts.’
If only I had listened to Mum.
Things are looking ordinary for 16 year old Amy Lee. Since her parents split up, she and her mum live in a tiny apartment above Mum’s shop, Buy Gone. Amy’s best friend Rebecca has moods that are almost impossible to fathom, or predict. It seems that boys at her school only want to talk to her if she’ll bring along the magnetic Rebecca. At school, her reputation is tipping the scale from odd to downright weird. And now there’s a ghost, Logan. With a mother who talks constantly about ghosts and how to avoid them, you’d think Amy should have been safe. But sometimes you have to make up your own mind about what is real and what just might not be. Prelovedis a novel about reality and beyond.
What do you do when you have a mother who spouts superstitions all the time? Who puts the prices up on items in her shop so they won’t be bought? And a father who seems very good at dodging his responsibilities? And a friend who seems only to need her as a prop? None of this is good for self-esteem, and therefore to being able to look objectively at what’s going on in your world. Amy is feisty and likeable. She can see a ghost, but she has more trouble seeing what’s going on in her own head, and heart. Preloved is an engaging read about a girl stuck on the precipice of yesterday and today, not sure whether to fall back or leap forward. Recommended for mid-secondary readers.
Preloved, Shirley Marr Black Dog Books 2012 ISBN: 9781742031903
review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author