Yesterday I read the first chapter of Haunted Memories, the second book in Phoebe Rivers Saranormal tween supernatural series. This morning I sat down to read a chapter or two before breakfast. Ha! I finished it instead.

Sara Collins and her father, Mike, moved to Stellamar, New Jersey during the summer. Now Sara is attending Stellamar Middle School. It's the second day and it seems no one is noticing her. Good thing she's already friends with the outgoring Lily Randazzo. Thanks to Lily, Sara has a place to sit with other girls at lunch.

Luckily, Lily is very happy to meet the Collins' landlady, psychic Lady Azura, so that's one worry off Sara's mind. Our heroine gains a new worry when she opens her locker and something decidedly not normal happens.

A big subplot is Stellamar's annual Harvest Festival and who is going to be the Harvest Queen. Sara, a pretty, blue-eyed blonde, seems a natural candidate to some of her classmates, but Sara's not interested. Too bad for Sara that a ghost named Alice is determined that Sara will be the queen.

Another subplot is Sara meeting a cute boy named Jayden Mendes who likes her back. Problem? Jayden's guardian ghost hates Sara.

A bit of town history we learn about is a terrible polio epidemic in 1952. According to History.com, there were 58,000 new cases in the USA that year. Alice was one of the 3,000 polio victims who died. Jonas Salk, inventor of the first successful polio vaccine, announced it in 1953. Trials to make sure it was safe and worked began in 1954, the year I was born. The vaccine started to be given a year later and new cases of polio dropped to just 6,000 a year by 1957. The vaccine you could take by mouth came out in 1962, in time for me to get to swallow my sugar cube of polio prevention at school.

What made polio so frightening is that even if the victim lived, s/he was usually crippled for life. Some lost the use of one or both legs. The worst were those who could no longer breathe on their own and had to be kept alive inside machines called iron lungs. (A 1938 Porky Pig and Daffy Duck cartoon, 'The Daffy Doc,' features an iron lung. Look for it.)

Can Sara help poor Alice find rest? Can she get Jayden's guardian ghost to stop trying to keep them apart?

NOTES:

Chapter 1:

a. Sara met Miranda in chapter 13 of book one, Ghost Town.

b. Sara has her first encounter with a pun-loving gym teacher.

Chapter 2:

a. This is Lily's first visit to Lady Azura's house

b. Lady Azura was the Harvest Queen at the annual Harvest Festival when she was Sara & Lily's age.

c. Lily wants to contact her Gran Deb for the secret ingredient to her chocolate cake recipe.

Chapter 3:

a. Sara's locker is #303. Something happens when she opens it.

b. Sara had a vision of Jayden Mendes at the end of book one.

c. Sara meets Jayden's guardian ghost who hates her.

d. Lily has a cousin Kim who works at the store where Tamara bought her top.

Chapter 5: Sara is surprised by the list of girls running for Harvest Queen.

Chapter 7: Lady Azura tells Sara the name of one of the ghosts in her house.

Chapter 9: Sara's Aunt Charlotte has a beagle named Stewy. Avery reminds Sara of Stewy.

Chapter 10: Sara meets Alice.

Chapter 11:

a. Lady Azura's daughter, Diana, was born during the Harvest Festival.

b. Lady Azura tells Sara about Alice Emerson before she gives Sara an aquamarine for courage.

Chapter 12: What the ghost of Great-Ann Fran said in chapter 2 was true. Mrs. Randazzo has an Aunt Lorena in San Antonio.

Chapter 13: Sara talks about the history of Stellamar.

Chapter 14: We learn more about Alice Emerson.

Chapter 15: Sara's mother's name was Natalie. Spirit Boy's name is Marco. Alice lived from Aug. 6, 1939 - September 23, 1952.

Not only did I find Haunted Memories so compelling that I read from chapter 2 to the end in one sitting, I made sure to check out all of the other books in the series that my county's libraries have. Sara is a likeable girl. I'm glad she found someone with whom she could share her greatest secret. I recommend this book to readers who enjoy good stories about the supernatural. ( )

School has started and Sara is desperate to appear normal and make friends despite being pestered by a group of spirits. Like the first book this one is fun. We see Sara growing into her responsibilities and still being able to be part of a group of friends. This is a great series for tweens. There is even the start of a middle school romance. Already checked out the next in the series. ( )