Picture the Dead

Picture the Dead by Adele Griffin and Lisa Brown is a teen book about spiritual photography, ghosts, and the grief the Civil War created in the many women who lost their loved ones on the battlefield.  This book is filled with scrapbook pages put together by the main character, Jennie.  She lost both her twin brother, Toby, and her fiancee, her cousin Will.  She's stuck living with her Aunt Clara--an ill mannered, unpleasant woman, and her Uncle Henry, who's too much of a weenie to stand up to his wife.

The only survivor of the war is her cousin Quinn, who returns with a damaged eye, and secrets.  Aunt Clara and Uncle Henry arrange to have a photo taken of the family with a spiritual photographer, in hopes that it will capture a sign from Will.  At the photo session, Jennie experiences a moment where she sees Will appear, very angry.  Jennie begins her quest to find out why Will is haunting her, and what secret Quinn is keeping from her about Will's death.  Things are not adding up.

The end is a bit of a twist, but a great one!  The pages throughout the book illustrated with pieces of letters, photos, and comments of Jennie's from her scrapbook help build the story.  It's a refreshing change from the usual paranormal teen novel.  I seem to have fallen into a Civil War period in my reading, so this falls neatly within those parameters.

If you've got a teen who likes lost love, a little bit of history, and a good ghost story, recommend this book.  It's a quick read, and it's fun to study the illustrations and letters--they add to the story.

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Picture the Dead