Other editions of book The Empty Mirror

Recognition • A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Reviews "Collier's challenging novel effectively combines historical fiction with a genuinely spooky supernatural tale." -The Horn Book Guide "Lessons on the importance of not forgetting the past are included in this fast-paced novel that will hook readers with a spooky ghost story while giving them interesting historical information." -School Library Journal Hardcover Edition available: The Empty Mirror 1-58234-949-5 - $16.95

Nick is an orphan who has grown up in his uncle Jack's care on the wild, wooded coast of New England. His parents died when he was a baby during a terrible influenza epidemic that swept the region not long after World War I. Nick first realizes something is wrong when he notices he no longer has a reflection. Then a neighbor he has known all his life accuses him of ignoring her. Soon Nick is blamed for all kinds of trouble around town. Is some other boy who looks like Nick creating all the problems? Nick suspects that something even stranger is going on. Ultimately he proves that someone else is trying to get him in trouble. Refusing to let this shadow of a boy take over his life, Nick develops a plan with his friend Gypsy to get rid of his mirror image for good. Award-winning author James Lincoln Collier has written a haunting story of two boys-one alive, one a ghost-who confront each other and their small town in a battle to determine who is the more deserving of the one life they seem to share.

Nick Hodges had always been a troublesome boy. Growing up an orphan in his Uncle Jack’s care in a small New England town wasn’t easy. Everyone was a little wary, a little watchful—a little too watchful. One day, while Nick is walking in the woods, a neighbor thinks she sees him miles from where he actually is. Soon a series of events reinforcing Nick’s hotheaded reputation unfold. The incidents become increasingly serious until, finally, Nick is the scapegoat for a much more sinister crime, one that he wouldn’t even think of committing. As he uncovers history of the town’s influenza epidemic, and as he observes a strange occurrence in the graveyard, Nick begins to suspect something out of the ordinary is happening. And when he sees a figure running in the woods wearing the mirror image of his own shirt, Nick starts to piece together some of the answers—answers no one could have imagined. James Lincoln Collier has written a haunting story of a boy and his reflection—and what happens when two souls want to inhabit the same living body.

Nick is an orphan who has grown up in his uncle Jack's care on the wild, wooded coast of New England. His parents died when he was a baby during a terrible influenza epidemic that swept the region not long after World War I. Nick first realizes something is wrong when he notices he no longer has a reflection. Then a neighbor he has known all his life accuses him of ignoring her. Soon Nick is blamed for all kinds of trouble around town. Is some other boy who looks like Nick creating all the problems? Nick suspects that something even stranger is going on. Ultimately he proves that someone else is trying to get him in trouble. Refusing to let this shadow of a boy take over his life, Nick develops a plan with his friend Gypsy to get rid of his mirror image for good. Award-winning author James Lincoln Collier has written a haunting story of two boys-one alive, one a ghost-who confront each other and their small town in a battle to determine who is the more deserving of the one life they seem to share.

Nick is an orphan who has grown up in his uncle Jack's care on the wild, wooded coast of New England. His parents died when he was a baby during a terrible influenza epidemic that swept the region not long after World War I. Nick first realizes something is wrong when he notices he no longer has a reflection. Then a neighbor he has known all his life accuses him of ignoring her. Soon Nick is blamed for all kinds of trouble around town. Is some other boy who looks like Nick creating all the problems? Nick suspects that something even stranger is going on. Ultimately he proves that someone else is trying to get him in trouble. Refusing to let this shadow of a boy take over his life, Nick develops a plan with his friend Gypsy to get rid of his mirror image for good. Award-winning author James Lincoln Collier has written a haunting story of two boys-one alive, one a ghost-who confront each other and their small town in a battle to determine who is the more deserving of the one life they seem to share.