A Message from the Match Girl (Investigators of the Unknown, Bk. 3)

Lisle, Janet Taylor

ISBN 10: 0531087875 ISBN 13: 9780531087879

Publisher: Orchard Books, 1995

Synopsis

Overhearing the ghostly voice of his mother, nine-year-old orphan Walter Kew is lured to a park statue where he discovers relics from his own infancy that suggest his mother is alive, but Granny Docker will not tell him about his past.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 3-6-Walter Kew is a boy who is haunted. He believes his mother's ghost is trying to contact him, but he is also haunted by his own past, or more appropriately, his lack of one. Told by his grandmother that his parents were killed when he was a baby, Walter longs to know more about them. His intense desire seems to bring his mother's presence from "across dark oceans of time." At first he merely senses her voice "like a thought that might have been his own," but soon a mysterious message is found near the statue of the Little Match Girl in Andersen Park. As tokens from Walter's infant past begin to appear, he uncovers a little of the truth about himself. These facts also expose some of the anger and hurt he feels at being abandoned. Concerned about his well being, his two friends Poco and Georgina try to find their own way to the truth, for as Poco says, "You have to have stories about yourself." The theme is gently handled and never overburdens a fast-moving and suspenseful tale. As in the other well-written books in the series, Lisle sustains interest with a mystery but doesn't quite resolve all the questions at the end, leaving it to individual readers to bring their own understandings to the story. The characters are believable middle graders, each with their own idiosyncrasies, and the presence of Juliette, a remarkable Siamese, adds a further touch of magic and mystery.
Barbara Kiefer, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

Gr. 4^-6. The third in Lisle's Investigators of the Unknown series, this story turns its phantasmic focus on Walter, a friend of Poco and Georgina, who begins receiving messages from his dead mother at a statue of the Little Match Girl in the park. Abandoned in a casserole dish on a doorstep when he was an infant, Walter knows little about his background, and this has left him skittish and depressed. "You have to have stories about yourself," Poco sadly diagnoses. The messages are relics from Walter's infancy--his hospital bracelet, a lock of his hair--which he feels are from the beyond. Georgina and Poco, however, investigate the possibility that his mother is the very much alive waitress at the diner near the park. The mystery concludes unsolved, but with a satisfying resolution for Walter. Nourished by the clues to his origin, he gains a sense of peace about his current life. Again Lisle has created a mystery with strong momentum, intrigue, and well-defined, likable characters. This is a page-turner for all the right reasons. Julie Yates Walton

About this edition

• Publisher: Orchard Books
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0531087875
• ISBN 13: 9780531087879
• Binding: Library Binding
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 121