The Girl in the Lake by India Hill Brown read by Bahni Turpin
Celeste has never overcome her fear of swimming. This twelve-year-old tried lessons but failed miserably. Now her phobia takes on mammoth proportions when she and her brother spend a week at her grandparents’ house. Their home features access to a lake! In addition to Celeste's fear of the water, she soon discovers that her grandparents’ home is haunted. There is a flickering light in an empty room, an unseen hand touching her shoulder, a relative’s face appearing in the mirror, and unexplained shattering glass. When Celeste sees a photograph of her great aunt, she is shocked to discover she looks just like her Great Aunt Ellie. She suspects that her aunt may be the ghost. When she asks her grandparents about her aunt, they say little to alleviate Celeste’s worries. Instead, they reassure their granddaughter that Ellie never did and never would never hurt anyone. |
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| Caring adults come to the rescue, identifying individual fears and teaching youngsters lessons from history. Eventually the children learn a reason for the fear of swimming. This dates to segregation practices in the United States when Blacks were not permitted to swim in "white's only" public swimming facilities. These policies prevented youngsters from learning to swim and exacerbated fear of swimming pools. |