Nightmare

by Joan Lowery Nixon

For fans of Gillian Flynn, Caroline Cooney, and R.L. Stine comes Nightmare from four-time Edgar Allen Poe Young Adult Mystery Award winner Joan Lowery Nixon.
 
        Emily has never fit in with her overachieving family. Instead of getting straight As, she sits in the back row and hides behind her hair. As a result, her parents have enrolled her for the summer at Camp Excel, an academic camp for underachievers. Emily doesn’t want to go, and not just because she thinks it isn’t necessary. Since she was a child, she’s been plagued by a recurring nightmare. And something about this camp feels familiar. Has she been there before? Why can’t she remember?
        With the help of two new friends, Emily discovers that her nightmare is not just in her head. Someone at Camp Excel has a secret and will do anything—even kill—to keep Emily from uncovering the truth.
 
“A taut, well-constructed mystery.” – Kirkus Reviews
 
“Readers will once again fall under Nixon’s spell as they enjoy this page-turner.” – School Library Journal
 
“[An] inimitable blend of horror and whodunit.” – Booklist
 
“[ Nightmare has] taut suspenseful passages…[and] clever false leads.” – Publishers Weekly

Genres: Mystery, Young Adult, Horror, Fiction, Teen, Middle Grade, Contemporary

166 pages, Paperback

First published September 9, 2003

About the author

Author of more than one hundred books, Joan Lowery Nixon is the only writer to have won four Edgar Allan Poe Awards for Juvenile Mysteries (and been nominated several other times) from the Mystery Writers of America. Creating contemporary teenage characters who have both a personal problem and a mystery to solve, Nixon captured the attention of legions of teenage readers since the publication of her first YA novel more than twenty years ago. In addition to mystery/suspense novels, she wrote nonfiction and fiction for children and middle graders, as well as several short stories. Nixon was the first person to write novels for teens about the orphan trains of the nineteenth century. She followed those with historical novels about Ellis Island and, more recently for younger readers, Colonial Williamsburg. Joan Lowery Nixon died on June 28, 2003—a great loss for all of us.

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite author! I realize it was written for teens, but I never have to deal with the crap that is sometimes in adult novels.

[Mayle Brooks]

Emily was having a dream about her being tangled in vines. Her mother woke her up and her mom wanted her to talk about her nightmare. Emily doesn't want to talk about her nightmare. I really like the very beginning when it first started out her nightmare because it was very intense. Then, they arrived at a place called Camp Excel. Emily's mom wants her to take a summer program. What do you like about this book so far? Do you like books that are intense? I love books that are scary and intense. Do you think Emily is going to like Camp Excel?

[Madison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, i thought this book was pretty good. I liked how it made you want to keep on reading. I am glad that emily went to that summer school to help her with her problems. I never did like her roomate, Haley. She was extremely wierd and almost controlling. I hated how she had what she called, "her runes." Which were just dumb rocks in a box. She thought they had power, and they told you if you were going to have a good day or bad day. I hated when she made Emily draw one of them. If I was Emily I would have never picked out one of those things, I would have probably asked for a better roomate.

[Henry Maciel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eight years for her life eight years Emily Wood has been haunted by the same nightmare for eight years! That was all gone for a while. Now Emily is Sixteen having the same nightmare from when she was eight. Emily has always been in the back being anti-social in school. So her parents made up their mind to put Emily in a Camp Exel.The setting takes place in a Camp Exel. Emily wants to find out why she is having the dream about a women in pale face and hair down to her face. She later find out the that Taylor copied her face and hair!! Emily goes to Mr.Salgado's shop with Haley. Mr Salgado finds that there is a spirit inside Emily. Conlfict is person vs person. I know this because Emily tries to find out who the women in her nightmare is. After Emily asked about the women in the photo Dr. Anderson said that the women was his partner but she died eight years ago!! Emily always hangs out with Haley because Haley wants to help Emily. Now Emily is fearless when the nightmare happens out of nowhere. The theme of this story is suspends because it gives us a lot of problems within the same book! The title relates to the book by telling us about every bad thing that happens in Emily's dream. The major event that changed Emily was when she found out who thee women in her nightmare was.The author builds up suspends when he writes that Taylor makes herself look like Emily. Emily get so shocked that when Taylor invites her for dinner Emily refused and stays at her room. I was surprised when the author writes that Emily asked Dr. Anderson who was the women in the photo and that Dr. Anderson said that the women in the photo died eight years ago. I was angry about the ending because it did not really surprised me like i think it would. It just told us that Emily is not afraid anymore about the women in her nightmare. My favorite part was when Taylor looked a lot like Emily. Overall I thought this book was great not the best but at least it was interesting that the book grabbed my attention. In Conclution i thought this book was good because everything in the book was good and the book build up suspends a lot of times to get the reader's attention to keep on reading the book till the end! Any ways the author did great on this book and i will like to see a other book that builds up suspends and more. I will start going to sleep without hearing to any true scary stories!!

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nightmare by Joan Lowery Nixon is a great book about a girl with a reoccurring nightmare. Emily has had a reoccurring nightmare she’s been having since was about seven years old. Now her parent’s area sending her to a learning educational camp to help Emily realize she’s able o get grades and that she can succeed. But ever since she’s entered the camp the nightmare has been occurring more than ever! She’s having bad feelings about this camp, and now she starting to put together the reason the dream has been reoccurring so often. She also thinks that someone knows she knows something and their out to murder her before she remembers completely what he nightmare is trying to tell her. This book has a look of suspense and people might find it a little scary.
I would recommend this book to people who like books where you have to solve mysteries. This book was one of the best books I’ve ever read, and I enjoyed it very much. If the author’s purpose was to keep us in suspense throughout the book and to entertain, she succeeded. But altogether the authors purpose seemed to be to inform us that: one she might have gone through this experience herself two, to tell us that there are people in the real world that have gone through this, or three, we need to pay attention to our dreams. Dreams can tell you things that you don’t even know you’re worrying about. For example if you have a dream where your drowning and your calling someone to help you but no ones coming, your felling that no ones there for you. Also the authors tone is used throughout the book, which makes the book more understanding.
So this book is very wonderful, and the author did everything great. Now I will always pay attention to my dreams!!!=)

[Lisa Campbell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lisa Campbell
Mystery

For eight years, Emily Wood has been haunted by a nightmare. It is always the same, through the thick vines she sees a body lying lifeless on the ground. As she turns to run she hears a voice call, “Little girl, come back! I’ll find you!” Now at sixteen, she tries her best to never draw attention to herself. She doesn’t know why she is so afraid all the time. In desperation, her parents send her to a special summer camp for underachievers. For some reason even the name of the camp fills her with terror. When she arrives at the camp it quickly becomes obvious that her nightmares are more than dreams, they really happened. A woman was murdered eight years ago and Emily saw it. The murderer is one of the staff at the camp, but who is it? Emily has the help of her new friends; Haley, Taylor and Maxwell. Together they try to solve the mystery before Emily becomes the next victim.

This was a fun little story. The tension built nicely with enough of a twist in the end to keep the reader guessing. This mystery would appeal to a teen reader who wanted a mystery without too much violence and in the end the protagonist, Emily, came out stronger and more confident.

[Briana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read a few books by Joan Lowery Nixon and have enjoyed most of them, this book is probably one of the better books. I really enjoyed reading about the character, Emily, she is a shy quiet teenage girl who doesn’t quite fit in with her overachieving sisters. This worries her parents so they decide to send her to an academic camp for the summer. Emily doesn’t think that camp excel is necessary she doesn’t want to be like her sisters. But when she finally goes to the camp she gets the feeling that she’s been there before. This book is about her adventure of trying to find what the cause is of her nightmare, she faces a few hurdles, one of those being meeting new people. But in the end those new friends save her life.

[Kirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

The setting was nice. I am a sucker for camp stories, so I knew I would probably enjoy this.

The characters were sort of two-dimensional, relying on popular tropes. But it is a relatively short book, so I’m fine with this.

The mystery, the driving point of the book, is a little weak. The longer chapters are interspersed by shorter chapters from the perspective of the killer. I had a pretty solid sense of who it was up front, but honestly it could have been any of the adults and it wouldn’t have mattered much, because the adults are all essentially the same.

There was one point where the protagonist is about to tell her parents what is going on. Then she decides not to, because she thinks she could die any minute. That confused me a bit. It was almost as if the writer wrote themselves into a corner and then just quickly tried to write themselves out of it without much thought.

You know what though?

I still liked this book alright. Sometimes you just need something light that reads quick. Something you can pick up and put back down without 100% investment. This was perfect for that. It was the first book I read completely during the coronavirus quarantine, and I had been finding it hard to focus. This book helped me get my groove back. And I will be reading more from this author in the future.

[Val · Rating 4 out of 5]

introducing my book as "night mare" the title is nightmare the author is Joan Lowery nixon,this book is mostly a thriller about a girl in her teens that is finding out secrets that are very dangerous while shes helping her mothers helper,Emily gets a job to get money for a new brand camara but then sees that's sum is wrong,she gets to spend time w the family called thirkields but then she just starts to see how the mother is really weird with all her kids shes just very clingy,she also finds out they got a secret son,one of them is called David and she starts to see that David's death was lowkey not a accident so she is very suspicious,,what I liked about the book it was just very intresting and just wowed anybody out,but in some parts it was very boring for some of the parts,the story/plot did not keep me guessing it was lowkey obvious what was happening.the book lowkey just made me bored,the book was good in some parts but made me want to go back on TikTok,I disliked about the book how much they just start talking about other peoples backstorys and not about the main issue,it left a cliffhanger which was just Emily leaving into a cave and that was it.at the end of it all it shows how the mom was lying thru the whole time.i pretty much just rate it a 7/10 it was a mid book

[Kyla Sixkiller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nightmare is a captivating tale set against the backdrop of a summer camp. While the characters may be somewhat stereotypical, the author's ability to create a suspenseful and atmospheric setting makes up for any lack of depth.

The mystery at the heart of the story is intriguing, although the killer's identity may be easier to guess than intended. The alternating perspectives between the protagonist and the killer add a layer of complexity and suspense, even if the resolution is somewhat predictable.

The protagonist's decision to withhold information from her parents is a bit perplexing, but it doesn't significantly detract from the overall enjoyment of the story.

Despite its flaws, Nightmare is a fun and thrilling read that is perfect for those seeking a quick escape. The author's ability to create a sense of unease and suspense is evident, making this a captivating and enjoyable mystery.

[Blaze · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not good at descriptions and I'm trying not to spoil the book, so bear with me.


Emily, a girl who has been having the same recurring nightmare since she was 8 has been keeping her up at night. It's now summertime and since her grades last semester aren't where they should be, her parents send her to an Educational camp center for six weeks to help her with the school. During her time there her nightmare gets worse and as time passes she remembers more, and who the Blond woman is in this nightmare. With the help of Haley, Taylor, and Maxwell she tries to figure out what the dream means and what happened to the woman, and why she is so important to Emily.


I liked the book, It took me a whole day to finish since I have classes but it was thrilling. The ending caught me off guard though, I didn't expect it to end so abruptly.

[Anei · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not the target audience for this book, but I've found myself wanting to read it, anyway. I found it an enjoyable read - not too surprising in terms of plot, but still good at building tension and then resolving it in a rather believable way. I also appreciated the length - at 166 pages, it's a very quick, easy read that includes several fun characters as well as the main character's story arc and development. Emily's transformation is best summed up at the end of the book and not further explored, but you can still believe it - it's self-realization of a young girl who overcame her fear. When you close the book, it's on a hopeful, believable note that her life will now actually change for the better for her.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well that was an anticlimax. And such an abrupt ending!

I don’t know what I expected - this book is marketed to young teenagers. But I love summer camp stories, especially with horror mixed in, so I had to read it, really.

It was very trite, and the characters sound very young, and it definitely felt like it was written in the 80s or earlier but then one of the characters produces a cell phone and you realise it’s the early 2000s. Which is a weird time to pin down even though I lived through it.

I enjoyed the setting, and I liked Haley’s runes. But the other characters were such caricatures - Maxwell blathering on about being a playwright and Taylor being vapid - and I didn’t even know who the baddie was when it was revealed lol.

2.7 stars.

[Amani ❀ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book when I was 11 years old. I was going through the toughest time as a child. Fast forward 13 years later, I was reminded of the time where this book was the old good company I had. It’s weird reading this now, I remember so much but also forgot a lot as well. If I could name any cons: it would be all of the teachers and doctors name I had to remember lol. I had to go back and ask,”Ok who was Comstock/Anderson again?” I love every bit of this book though. It truly took me back and I can’t wait to read it again in the next ten years. This book will always be special to me.

[Carolyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not the book for me.

The kids liked it (they all gave it 3 or 4 stars out of 5), but all hated the ending. This is fine for middle grades--no real questionable content.

I didn't like it, but thought the ending was OK.

A mostly psychological horror story which is something I'm not super into in books OR movies. So just not the book for me.

Writing was OK, nothing especially bad but nothing especially good either.

[Briana Macias · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the book was a really good book especially if you like mysterious and a lot of drama in your books. This girl named Emily got this same nightmare over and over about a body that would haunt her in her dreams and ever time she tells someone her dream would get worse and worse. I thought overall this was a pretty good book with a lot of creepy and mysterious things.

[Jamie Jewell · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the worse books I've ever read. Now I am not saying the book is bad... I was just definitely not part of the target demographic. I got it at my local Goodwill on one of my thrifting trips, the cover was a little creepy and it was thin so I figured I would get it to boost my reading goal number. I've never regretted reading a book and I am still glad I read it... just not my favorite.

[anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this for a book club of 13-year-olds who wanted to read something scary. Predictable in the same way Scooby Doo is, but without the personified dog. I think I would have enjoyed it much more if I had read it a few decades ago when I was in the target audience.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The characters were rather 2 dimensional. I found myself rolling my eyes quite a bit. The kids are young - like 15. So they are all about drama and themselves. But that was fine. It was a quick read.
I liked it well enough, but I will probably never want to read it again.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my second-favorite out of all the Joan Lowery Nixon books I’ve read (probably 3-4), right behind The Name of the Game Was Murder (which I’d recommend to anyone). The characters are likable, as is the mystery. The plot was suspenseful and sort of experimental (as it sort of strayed to the supernatural path throughout). It was pretty obvious who did it towards the end of the book, but it was still a great read. Five out of five.

[Ruth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Runes, fortune telling, and mysticism. DO NOT RECOMMEND.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is for young teens

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

JLN is famous for her YA thrillers and chillers and carries a high degree of nostalgia for me. This one's an adequate, but nothing special member of the JLN canon.

[Rosie Sellers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book overall but I didn’t think the ending was fulfilling

[Kelsey McCarthy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was not my favorite. The ending was kinda lame and not as eventful as I hoped. The roommate drove me nuts with all the dumb rocks and Loki whatever.

[Bliss Coats · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nightmare
by~ Joan Lowry Nixon
Randon House Children’s Books
Originally released on September 9, 2003. rereleased August 9, 2005.


Nightmare Is a really great Young Adult Novel. The protagonist in this novel is Emily Wood, an underachiever at school who just wishes she could blend in and disappear. That’s pretty difficult, though, due to her odd hair color, a bleach blonde. She usually veils her face with her hair to just hide. Emily has been having the same nightmare for the past eight years. She goes through a lot of swampy plants and stumbles across a maimed body down by the river and someone screaming at her “Little girl! Come back! I’ll find you!” each time. Due to her being an underachiever as i mentioned before, Emily’s parents send her to a summer school so she can get her act together. However, something about the school doesn’t feel right to Emily. She feels like somehow she’s been there, even though she hasn’t. She tries telling her parents that she feels uncomfortable and doesn’t want to be there because she’s afraid, but her parents just sell it off as her trying to get out of summer school. While attending the school, Emily meets some pretty quirky characters. Among these are Maxwell, an aspiring director who writes his own plays based on dramatizations of his life and emotions. Also Taylor, a punk girl with pink and blonde hair, and Hayley. Hayley is a little psycho it would seem, because she’s into potions and mood stones and what not. Hayley is also Emily’s roommate. The mystery thickens when Emily gets to her room and Hayley starts talking about something called Mood stones, which predict the future. The stones, apparently, are not showing results that are favorable to Emily, so the gang (Emily, Hayley, Maxwell, and Taylor) all go to a ghost town to find a shamin. The shamin tells them that there is danger at the school, so the gang goes investigating. Also, Taylor gets her hair dyed and styled the same as Emily because she loves the color. Later, Emily keeps getting anonymous notes and the feeling someone is watching her. It turns out that Emily’s nightmare isn’t something in her head. A murder happened at the school eight years ago, and she was a witness. And even worse, the murderer is a camp counselor that knows Emily knows and is out to kill her. Everyone just believes that the woman that was killed just fell down the stairs. No, she was pushed, and now Emily needs to find out by who.Taylor almost dies because the murderer thinks she’s Emily due to her hair.

The theme of Nightmare is mystery. This book was really good with suspense because you never knew what staff member the murderer was, and you were right along with Emily the whole way. You almost felt her actual emotions from the pages. Also, the theme is basically to go with your gut when something doesn’t feel right, because it could be life or death.

The audience that Nightmare is intended for is probably for people that enjoy Thrillers, Mysteries, just suspenseful books in general. All of the characters are unforgettable, and you never want the story to end. I say that it’s for this audience because of all the twists and you never know what’ll happen next. Also, nothing makes sense for quite some time, and you feel like you’re lost with the characters themselves, as if ‘ trying to help Emily stay alive for the summer.

I really did enjoy Nightmare. it was a mix of a lot of my favorite genres, and really i couldn’t put the thing down. It was addicting, which is how im sure all of us like our novels. I would definitley reccomend it to a friend or just anyone who wnjoys this genre. It is well written, and definitly not a waste of time. great read.

[Olsenfanatic2000 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books by Joan Lowery Nixon. I own it and read it often.I would recommend it.

[Tahjzha Botts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emily has a reoccurring nightmare and doesn't understand why. Her parents are worried about her because she is an underachiever unlike her sisters. They take her to Camp Excel with a bunch of other people just like her. She has a weird occurrence of events. Little do they know someone there is trying to make sure she doesn't remember anything from her past no matter what it takes.

This book relates to my life because her parents always want her to do so much but she doesn't like it. She doesn't like to fail or mess up just like me. This reminds me of the box car children books because they are both mysteries. They can sometimes has similar plots except the Box Car Children is for younger kids. This is like the world because there are lot of people in the world like Emily.

[Jamie Lau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nightmare by Joan Lowery Nixon is a mysterious novel that raised the hairs on the back of my neck quite a few times. The main character is Emily, a girl who is out shined by her older sisters, both being very successful. She is sent to a camp to help her "reach her full potential" as her parents say. She meets a group of very interesting people who help her solve the root of a nightmare that has haunted her since she was a young girl.

Emily is a girl who is very soft spoken as I gathered from the way she never spoke up nor did she voice her opinion. The author constantly described her hair as such a light blonde that it almost looked white. Her hair was also frizzy and curly which made her hair look like a cloud or cotton candy, and it often stated that she used her hair as a sort of "shield" to protect herself. I imagined her differently than the book described,
I always thought of her as a brunette but that was just a personal idea.
The next main character is Hailey, and she is Emily's room mate at camp. Emily described her as kind of snobby and very demanding. She stated many times that she didn't even like Hailey all that much, however Emily stuck by her. Hailey is noted right away in her first appearance as having dark hair and sharp blue eyes, and the first thing she says is something rude, making fun of one of the girls hair at camp. This threw me off right away and I didn't really like this character, though i think this is what the author intended.

Throughout this book i made many guesses and tried to piece together the hints that the author threw in. However the ending and resolution to Emily's nightmare all made sense. It ended in breaking free of what consumed Emily, and also solved a murder that was long overdue. Joan did a fantastic job creating an eerie environment and I thought the book was good. Of course there was some gaps in the plot but it was a book worth reading

[Patrice Sartor · Rating 2 out of 5]

GENRE: Fiction: Mystery.

SUBJECT/THEMES: Nightmares, repressed memories, traumatic incidents, underachievers.

SUMMARY: Sixteen-year-old Emily comes from a family of overachieving, hyper-successful parents and siblings. So when she returns home with less than straight-As, her parents decide that she is not working at her proper level and take her to Camp Excel for underachievers, where she’ll stay for many weeks over the summer. Emily isn’t happy about this, but she has something greater on her mind—her recurring nightmare of a dead woman’s face. She’s had them for about eight years, yet lately they are becoming more frequent. Before long Emily determines that her nightmare is somehow connected to Camp Excel, and then she and her friends work to figure out who is after Emily.

EVALUATION: The mystery genre is my least favorite subject area to read. As much as I loved Scooby Doo when I was younger, most of the mysteries feel contrived, hokey, and too many potential suspects are seen to do shady things in order to throw the reader off of the track of the actual guilty party. Nightmare falls prey to a number of these plot devices, though the pacing does move along fairly well. Even though I did not enjoy it, this is written by a prolific author who appears quite popular, and I suspect teenage mystery fans will enjoy it.

WHY I WOULD INCLUDE IT: I understand and respect that one of my duties as a librarian will be to recommend books to people, and that these people may not share my particular reading taste. To that end, I want to have read at least one book in each of the major fiction subject areas, so that I may better serve my future customers. I selected a book by Joan Lowery Nixon because she writes many mystery novels for young adults, and because she has won several awards. Lastly, this would be a good title for a reluctant reader.