Shadow-Catcher

by Betty Levin

It is 1892, and Jonathan Capewell, a farm boy who dreams of becoming a big-city detective, is sent from home to look after his mysterious grandfather. Grandpa is a traveling photographer, and his independent ways have never included family members -- certainly not his youngest grandchild. After a grueling journey, Jonathan and Grandpa shoot an image of a puzzling struggle on a raging river in the Maine woods. At first they don't suspect it's anything more than a logging accident. But later the scene comes back to haunt them when a stranger shows an uncommon interest in the undeveloped negatives. Who is this over-friendly stranger? Why does he seem so determined to have those pictures? The clues point to something that Jonathan has already begun to what happened on the rapids that day was no accident.... Books for the Teen Age 2001 (NYPL)

160 pages, Hardcover

First published May 31, 2000

About the author

Betty Levin lives in Lincoln, Massachusetts, as a sheep farmer, border collie trainer, and children's novelist whose many books include The Keeping Room, The Ice Bear, The Trouble With Gramary (winner of the Judy Lopez Memorial Foundation Award), Fire in the Wind, Island Bound, Shadow-Catcher, Away to Me, Moss and its sequels, and Shoddy Cove.

She has taught at Pine Manor Open College, Simmons College Center for the Study of Children's Literature, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Radcliffe Seminars. She is a former fellow of the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College.

Betty was a founding member of the Board of Children's Literature New England, and in 2000 received the Hope S. Dean Memorial Award from the Foundation for Children's Books.

Reviews

[Mara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very simple, historical mystery, Levin manages to pack all sorts of topics into this little tiny book: racism, classism, family troubles, history of photography, and some plugs for Twain and Dickens.