Emily's Book Blog
Book Review
I give this book 5 out of 5 stars because this book was one of the best books i have ever read. This was written by one of my favorite authors Mary Downing Hahn and she used great detail and description in this story and i loved every part of it.
By: Mary Downing Hahn
Deep and Dark and Dangerous
Fiction, Horror Book.
Main Themes
People hide their true identity: I said people hide their identity as one of my themes because Teresa throughout the whole book pretended to be someone she's not.
Danger of Isolation: Teresa was in danger of isolation because when she started drowning she was in danger and when she tells Ali and Emma where she is when she died, she was wedged under rocks in the lake.
Depression: Aunt Dulcie was Depressed when she was a Sycamore lake from what happened to her and her sister at the lake when they were younger.
Sissy: Aunt Dulcie: Ali: Emma:
Character Traits
.[sik-uh-mawr, -mohr]
Buttonwood
Bossy: When Sissy is playing with Emma she would always tell her what to do, and she would make Emma do those things or she would torment her until she cried. (because Emma is only 4)
Restless: Aunt Dulcie is restless because while she was at the lake she kept having nightmares about Teresa and what happened and she could never fall asleep.
Selfish: Sissy is very selfish because when she makes Emma cry. All she does is mock Emma and she doesn't care about anything or anybody.
Curious: Ali is curious about who "T" is and once she finds out that "T" stands for Teresa she becomes even more curious on why her mom and aunt dont remember her.
Unfriendly: Emma becomes very unfriendly when she is around Sissy even though Emma is normally sweet, just so she can please Sissy.
Figurative Language
What Text Said: Figurative Language Type: What does this mean:
I am as quiet as an Indian.
Sissy craned her neck to see the title.
Like bad weather, I sensed blame coming my way.
Crash
The lake felt like the rest of the day
Simile
She was very quiet, almost silent.
Hyperbole
Simile
onamotapia
She streched her neck to see the title
She knew she was going to get blamed for something.
Something Shattered
Personification
The lake didn't look welcoming
Vocabulary
Wither
Scallop
Credible
Sash
Clambered
Mournfully
Hoax
Apparitions
Politzer
Murmered
Sprawled
Jutted
Ignorant
Spiteful
Gargoyle
Figurative Language Sentences
The flowers were as Withered as a piece of paper above fire.
Lucy's hoax was as funny as watching paint dry.
If he was a spider he would have clambered up the wall faster then a mokey.
Molly's appirition was as scary as a bear ready to strike at night.
Kallie's cry was sadder then the mournful cry of a lonely wolf.
The puppie's legs sprawled in all directions.
Plot
Exposition
Characters: Aunt Dulcie, Claire/Mom, Dad, Emma, Sissy, Ali, Miss Trent
Setting: Sycamore Lake
Dramatic Scene: Aunt Dulcie and Claire are hiding something about the lake. People say someone died, but they don't tell Ali anything about it, and she is anxious to know.
Conflict that motivates: Ali finds out who Teresa is and learns that she was the person who died in the lake, but why would Aunt Dulcie and Claire be lying that they have never heard of someone named Teresa?
Obstacles: Ali trys to find out what happened to Teresa while watching Emma the whole summer and having to hang out with Emma's annoying friend Sissy.
Rising Action
Complication: Emma refuses to stop hanging out with Sissy since its her first and only friend.
Changes in motivation: Aunt Dulcie will not tell Ali anything and all the people she talks to dont tell her the real story on what happened to Teresa.
Obstacles: Aunt Duulcie is now making Ali watch Emma every second because she has been sneaking out and playing with Sissy while she is supposed to be napping.
Climax
Emma got really sick one day so Aunt Dulcie took Emma to the docters. While Emma was at the docters Ali decided to go outside and enjoy the nice weather and to her dissapointment SIssy was standing there waiting for her. Sissy wanted to show Ali something. She took Ali to a cliff that overlooked the lake. Sissy leaned over and was looking something below. She wanted Ali to see but knowing Sissy Ali thought she was going to push her off the cliff as a joke. Ali refused to look so Sissy ran away. Ali determined to find out shere Sissy lived ran after her never letting her sweatshirt out of sight. When Ali finally caught up to the sweatshirt it was hanging on an angels hand, a gravestone. The gravestone's engravement said Teresa Abbott 1967-1977. Ali was so freaked out she ran to Mrs. Trent's house. While she was there she asked Mrs. Trent about Teresa's apperence. Every detail matched Sissy's apperence. Ali connected the dots and Realized that "Sissy" was really Teresa.
Falling Action
Ali and Emma were scared because they spent their whole summer with a ghost
Dad was in Disbelief that Ali and Emma had known Teresa's Ghost.
The Police were shocked that Ali and Emma knew where Teresa's body was.
Aunt Dulcie and Claire where petrified that after so long they where finally telling the truth about Teresa and how people where reacting, Especially Teresa's sister.
Resolution
Emma and Ali still kept seeing Teresa's ghost everywhere. Teresa asked if she could get a proper burial since she was in the lake she never got buried, so she wanted to be properly buried. She promised that if she got a proper burial she would never bother them again, so thats what she got. The police buried her and when Ali and Emma where leaving they stopped off at her greve before they left and Sissy's favorite doll that Emma loved to play with was their for Emma.