The Shade

by K.L. Denman

Safira doesn't believe in ghosts, but the girl in her cabin at camp was not a living person, so what was she? Her friend Trinity is convinced Safira's seen a ghost and sets out to discover who the ghost girl is. Safira is too busy dealing with her family to help solve the mystery. Safira has never gotten along with her sister, Mya, and now that Mya's pending marriage dominates the family there seems to be no hope for friendship between them. But when Trinity discovers the death of a girl named Myra, Safira starts to wonder if the ghost-girl has an important message about her own sister.

128 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Avery Krahl · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Shade, by K.L.Denman, is an interesting book about a girl who is dealing with a supernatural being that she can’t get away. The book was mostly slow throughout most of the book. It was hard to get into, however there were some parts that left me wanting more. There was also a moment when Safira's sister tries to commit suicide, but Safira stops her. That would definitely leave the readers on edge. The main character see’s a ghost and has to deal with it. I absolutely recommend this to teenagers 12+ who like supernatural books.

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a mystery and intrigued me. As I read I was on the "edge of my seat". It demonstrates how we felt as a kid when we hear a weird except the worst of our fears came true. When we did look we saw nothing, but in this book, there was a kid's nightmare. There was a ghost. This frightens Safira as well as the reader.
As the book goes on we learn that the ghost had a message. This increases the suspense of the book. The characters grow as a whole as well as their bonds with one and another. Like any other book the problem is resolved. However, some books suspense stop after the problem is solved. This is not the case, the suspense built throughout the whole book. From the first page to the last. Overall this book was creepy and suspenseful throughout the whole book.

[Student Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Shade is definitely an interesting book which reviews the world of ghosts. I'd say it is a horror/mystery type of novel and is a breeze to read. I personally didn't enjoy the book because of the lack of character development. I feel like theres more information on supporting characters like Mya and Trinity rather than Safira, the main character. But I like the main concept of the story and how it draws you in at the start and keeps getting more interesting, like with Mya's problems with her wedding or Safira's worries about the ghost girl she sees at the beginning that leads to all this chaos happening. Overall, it is a good book that I wish I had liked more but would be a good pick if you like mystery-solving type of books.

[Jamison · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the very start, the book was very intriguing. The first couple of pages really caught my attention but after that, it slowed down for the next couple of chapters. After completing the book I had this feeling of wanting more, it lacked depth and description in some parts. Aside from those few parts, overall the book was suspenseful and kept you guessing what would happen next. I found myself empathizing with the characters which added an additional level of enjoyment to the story.

[Meg]

why did I read this. Good thing its only 120 pages

[Roberto · Rating 5 out of 5]

The shade by K.L. Denman

I am very interested in mystery and fiction books so when I saw this book in the library with a simple cover and a short but intriguing title I knew that I must read it. Denman manages to get the reader only with the title. In the book he explains the setting around the protagonist great but that makes you see that this isn´t the kind of book you are expecting.

The novel focus on Safira, a twelve years old girl that wants to mature very fast, that is going to try to deal with her family because, now that her sister is going to marry, every one is angry and shouting all day. She and her sister aren’t the best sisters in this moment.The problem is going to present when she sees a ghost from a girl in her summer camp. She tries to forget it but Trinity(this character is the humor of the novel), her best friend, is going to search in every place on the world to find this ghost.

With this explanation you can see that is you are looking for something with a lot of mystery you should read another book. I would recommend it to all the people that is looking for non-fiction books, although it have a ghost, the novel focus on the problems of Safira in her house.I started to enjoy it when I realized that this story wasn’t about mystery. So now that you know this, is one of the best books I have readed.

[Yangyang Cheung · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I thought that there would be a real ghost in the book, but it turns out the the person or shadow behind Safira was just her own sister. Safira's sister was the one who actually visited her during camp. Behind all the mysterious actions and events it was all just her sister behind her. At the end there wasn't a ghost, and the real problem was that Safira's sister, Mya didn't like her boyfriend at all. Mya's boyfriend, Lino was a horrible person who will kill her if she had actually married him. I didn't like the ending because I was hoping for some ghosts and excitements, but there was no ghost and it wasn't as interesting because of that. This book was still suspenseful because just like me readers would of thought that a ghost really was haunting Safira.

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick and light read.

[Linsela · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun and clever short story. Entertaining. I think a lot of teen girls will empathize with the events and outcome.

[Brianna Battista]

In the book shade it starts out with the main character (Safira) at summer camp. One night she wakes up from her sleep and see what looks like a ghost. She does not really believe in ghosts though and does not know what to think of this encounter. Then she went home and met up with her best friend Trinity. Her friend believes very much in ghosts, ouija boards, and other paranormal activity. Trinity wants to find out more about the ghost that visited safira and wants to further explore an old washstand that was in Safira's cabin that she thinks may be affiliated with the ghost. They call the camp but they don't give them much information. Trinity comes up with the idea to use a ouija board to try and connect with the ghost. Out of this experience they find out the ghosts name, that the ghost needs help, and that it all has something to do with a sister. Towards the end of the book they figure out that it is actually a shade not a ghost. The shade was subconsciously sent by her sister to warn her about danger ahead in life. Safira figured out that the shade was warning her about her sister's fiance and soon to be husband. It turns out if she were to marry him she would die because he was not good for her and she didn't know it. The book held us in suspense when Safira made an objection to the marriage in the middle of the wedding which ends in her sister deciding that her fiance is not good for her after all so she called off the wedding. I liked that this book was on an interesting topic and well thought out. It wasn't like typical ghost books because the added a twist by calling it a shade and giving it a different purpose. I would recommend this book to young readers who are interested in mysteries. I give this book an eight out of ten.