Ghost of Spirit Bear – Ben Mikaelsen. Seventeen year-old Cole Matthews is back at his old high school and uses newly learned skills to affect change. Cole is a violent teen who responded positively to a year on a remote Alaskan island to learn other ways of dealing with problems. He returns to his Minnesotan high school and actually utilizes his newly found coping skills. Attendant to achieving positive outcomes, Cole discovers leadership qualities within himself instrumental to producing major reform changes at his high school.

This short problem solving novel aimed at young teens showed positive ways of dealing with anger producing situations - thanks to the Tlinglit ways taught by his probation officer, Garvey who recommended Cole to the Island. I liked the story not so much for the plot but rather the messages it conveyed. “…he (Cole) learned to focus on the good. A good day wasn’t a day without clouds but rather a day where one focused on finding the sunlight behind the clouds.”

I Heart You, You Haunt Me, by Lisa Schroeder -

Ava and Jackson are happily in love...until Jackson is killed and Ava, heartbroken, is left to deal with her guilt and grief. Even though Jackson is dead, he comes back to Ava as a ghost, unable to move on until Ava lets go of her guilt.

Written in verses, this book is sure to haunt you with its unusual story and leave you in tears at the end.

Shawna