High Spirits: A Tale of Ghostly Rapping and Romance

Dianne K. Salerni
iUniverse (2007)
ISBN 9780595423507
Reviewed by Tabytha Joy (age 15) for Reader Views (12/07)


“High Spirits” is about two young girls who end up getting themselves into a rapping business. It all started when Lizzie went to stay with her two young aunts, Maggie and Kate, along with their mum and dad.  Neither Maggie nor Kate liked Lizzie. But still, they had no choice but to share their bed with her. One night, Kate and Maggie decided to play a prank on Lizzie in hopes that she would return home. So, one of the girls started making rapping noises which really scared Lizzie enough to wake the adults up. The mum decided to try to talk to whatever was causing these noises. She was getting responses from what she thought were spirits. This caused the whole family to leave their house, except for the father as he did not believe.

After a while, people start believing that their loved ones are communicating with them through Kate and Maggie. At the beginning, the girls were doing it as fun. That was until their sister Leah figured out that it was Kate and Maggie making the noises. So, Leah convinces her mum to split the girls up for a while. Kate was to return with Lizzie and Leah. Well, Leah decides to make a fortune out of the rapping. She started holding rapping sessions and charging one dollar per person to sit through it. This goes on for some time. 

When Maggie grows older, she meets the man of her dreams, Elisha Kent Kane. Elisha told Maggie that in order for him to marry her, she had to give up the rapping business and go to school to become someone of a higher level. Will Maggie turn her back on her family’s income? Or will she turn away from the man she had always hoped for?

In my opinion, I think “High Spirits” was a well-written book. The flow was good in it. The details were good as well. I liked how the author explained how the girls were making objects move from one spot to another. There were also a few things the author failed to mention. At the end of the book, the author did not tell what happened to Lizzie or the people that Kate and Maggie so dearly loved and looked up to. This book would be best for readers who are twelve-years of age and older.

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