Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds. Jade Green: A Ghost Story. New York: Simon Pulse, 1999.
Annotation: Judith, a recently orphaned teen, goes to live with her last remaining relative: Uncle Geoffrey, under one circumstance: nothing green. But the last photo of her mother is in a green frame, which is something that she is unable to live without. Unable to live without it, she sneaks the green into the house and she learns the hard way why the color is not allowed in the house. Judith desperately tries to remove it, but it might be too late.
Justification for Nomination: Naylor makes it almost impossible to put this thriller/mystery book down. This book was set in the late 1800's, and the book stayed true to that era with the language, and descriptions of the dress and setting. There were many different themes running through this book as the plot progressed. The main character was in first person narrative, and she was growing as a person throughout the book, on her trek to find the truth. Along with finding the truth, she also stumbled across love with the neighbor boy. This thriller was about a girl that died in the house that Judith had moved into, but had "died at her own hand." Judith feels she starts to go crazy while she searches for the truth of why Jade Green took her own life, and begins to question if it was just the house that made her feel that way. Will she be able to find the reason for her death, all while balancing her household duties, her 40 year old cousin that seems to always be lurking in the shadows, her new job at the dress shop, and her new romantic interest.
I nominate this book, because it stayed true to it's time, and really embodies a young adult thriller, while including important themes throughout, such as romance, and self discovery. It also makes you think and guess what is going to happen around the next turn!
Genre Category: Mystery, thriller, coming of age, romance, edgy
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