Seraphina's Circle

Banished to her grandmother's farm for the summer, Morgan is furious with her mother. What kind of mother completely disregards her daughter's wishes and decides that she should spend time in the country where she can work on her attitude and perhaps learn a thing or two from her older cousin Clare? Clare who is beautiful, kind, helpful and responsible; everything that Morgan believes that she is not!

It turns out that Clare may not be so perfect. Against her mother's wishes, she has been seeing an older boy and she soon recruits Morgan to help them to arrange secret meetings. Uncomfortable about lying to the adults, Morgan soon begins to see eerie parallels between Clare's present situation and the story of their great-aunt Seraphina. When Clare becomes the victim of a horrific accident, Morgan and her family must pull together to deal with their grief, and to maybe let go of the hold that Seraphina's story has had on them for so long.

In the character of Morgan, Shipley captures the topsy-turvy roller coaster ride of being nearly 13. It is a turbulent time in a young girl's life, and that is aptly portrayed here.

Morgan's summer has been ruined.

The 12-year old has been banished to her grandmother's farm for sneaking out to a friend's birthday party and she's quite determined to be bored because she's stuck playing with her younger cousin Dulcy and training for high jump. Her older, (and perfect) cousin, 15 year old Clare, is too busy working on a farm and sneaking off with her older boyfriend.

However, Morgan gets sucked into acting as an intermediary between Clare and the boyfriend, who Clare has been forbidden to see.

The situation is reminiscent of Morgan's grandmother's childhood, when her grandma acted as a go between for her sister Seraphina and her forbidden love. Seraphina died in a snowstorm.

Aware of the similarities of the situation, Morgan is faced with deciding what to do — while balancing the struggles of growing up in her own life.

Like most good young adult novels, Seraphina's Circle tackles the crucial issues for teens — the ones adults assume their children will get over but the ones that are so critical to the teens themselves. Friend issues, first crush issues, parent issues and identity issues are all covered.

Shipley tackles the stuff teens deal with but she does so without suggesting they are unimportant. Shipley takes it ones step further with a tragedy from which there is no easy solution, and doesn't try to sugar coat the reality or harshness of the situation. Rather she focuses on the reality. However, it's not a sad book, and in fact ends on a very positive note.

I would have enjoyed this book even more if I were between the ages of 10 and 14. It's an enjoyable read, with plenty of action and conflict for fussy readers. Plus, it's clean and age appropriate. Shipley has an engaging writing style and a good knowledge of her reading demographic...

In this heartrending, contemporary coming-of-age story, Morgan is furious that she has been sent by her parents to her grandmother's farm for the summer as a punishment for lying. She had planned on spending her summer practicing for her all-star track meet and hanging out with her wild new friend, Jade. Morgan's mother hopes that while on the farm Morgan will be influenced by her 'perfect' cousin, Clare, to improve her attitude and become more responsible. The summer is not as peaceful and tranquil as intended when Morgan discovers that Clare has her own secrets and involves her in the deception.

Morgan is a recognizable 'tween character with her anger, rebellion, and confusion. The development of the strong bond between Clare and Morgan is believable and will appeal to middle school girls who will commiserate with the dilemma of betraying someone...