Search for the Shadowman (Joan Lowery Nixon)

This story, search for the shadow man is about a young 12 year old boy named Andy Thomas. This character was not going to like the assignment that soon waited for him. When he found out was it was he was devastated. He had to make a presentation about his family's history. This presentation must at least date back to at least the 1850's. Young Andy Thomas soon shockingly discovers that as he does research his family dates bake to 1823!!!


This book was very interesting in the way that it grabbed me, I could not stop reading. An example of this is when Andy gets the projects assignment. That is just the one example out of many how detailed this book. This novel by Joan Lowery Nixon was so interesting that I started to actually research my family's history. This book was great.


The second reason I enjoyed this novel was the description in it. When he found out he had to research his history, I felt like I was talking to him. In fact, I did start to talk to him and I found my self saying, its ok it might be fun or, it's not as bad as you think. I know that might seem crazy but when I was talking to him it did not feel like I was crazy it felt like I was really talking to how and he could hear me.


The 3rd and final reason I like this book was I felt like the character. For example, at the end of the story when he got up to do his presentation, I felt like him in sense, I felt nervous like him, hopping I would do well. Another Example of this was when he received the assignment, my jaw, along with him, dropped. In my mind I was thinking, o my gosh.


So as you can see this book was very descriptive, it made you feel like you were there and very interesting. I would rate this book 5 star. I would recommend this novel to any reader on an sixth or seventh grade reading level do to the descriptive text in this novel. If you are interested in reading this book you can find it at your public library or your school library.

In this book Shadow Man you will experience some sad, mysterious, and shocking things. Initially, the main character in the story, twelve-year-old Andy Thomas isn't thrilled with his teacher's assignment to explore family history. But when asking questions about his ancestors, he is surprised to discover a relative named Coley Joe Bonner. No one wants to discuss what went on in the family's past. Andy searches everywhere to gather information about his family's past, from the Internet to the local cemetery. The family is telling Andy to stop his investigation. "Will Andy's search hurt those he love or make them realize that it's never too late to seek justice?" Twelve-year-old Andy Thomas, who was assigned to a project where he had to find out a lot of things about his family history. He goes through old boxes, family trees, and old photo albums to find out everything he can. Andy looks through all of these old boxes and finds that there is a guy on a photo that's not shown. When Andy asks around about who he is they say his name is Coley Joe, but refuses to tell anything else about him. He goes to J.J.'s house (his best friend) to go see Miz Minna, for some information. When he asks her what he does, she says that he stole the family money and was taken out of the family bible. Knowing Andy he goes to the Internet, then the library, then to the cemetery. Doing all of that research, it gets him on to a investigation. He uses his dad's screen name, Hunter, to ask people in the chat rooms about Coley Joe. He finds out some things about Coley Joe, but that doesn't help his search. Someone in the chat room sends Andy some letters that Coley Joe sent to his girlfriend Felicity. He printed them out, set them down, and headed toward the cemetery. When he got there, a man named Elton was there and he was kind of scary. He knew some things about Coley Joe, but he mostly kept telling Andy to find out what the Bonners want to tell him. Andy is really confused about what is going on. But to find out what the family's secret is you'll have to read the book! But as a hint, the mystery to be solved is that the main character, Andy Thomas, believes that his relative Cole Joseph Bonner did not steal his family's money. The problem is that he is the only one in his family that believes this. His best friend J.J. Gasper the 7th (J.J. is James Jonathan Gasper) is trying to prove that Andy is right but the problem is J.J.'s great grandmother, Miz Minna, doesn't like the fact that Andy is digging up old family secrets that may change their town's history. So while he's digging up things, Miz Minna is giving Andy warning signs to stop researching about Coley Joe or something bad was going to happen to him. Imagine that you were Andy and your family thinks a relative in your family stole family money, what would you do? I know, you would try to figure out the real story just as Andy did. This book is filled with suspense. Andy's search filled me with many questions. The author of this book wrote this book very well and she has been called "the grande dame of young adult mysteries". She has served as vice president of the Southwest Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America and is the only four-time winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Best Juvenile Mystery Award. Joan, the author, has won awards for many of her books. So if she has won many awards and was vice president of the Southwest Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America then there is no wonder why the book is so good. In reading this book I thought that it would be excellent for kids' ages 8-15 years of age. After you read this review/article, I recommend you go and get this book.

12/08/04


Searching for a good Book? Try Search for the Shadowman.
This mysterious story will have you on the edge of your seat waiting to see if what is around the next corner is what ends the story or makes even it more mysterious. If you read this tense mystery you will not be able to put it down. It doesn't just keep telling you what's going to happen with clues all over the story. The truth doesn't appear until the end when the story has been narrowed down to a straight line and all that needs to be done is find the proof at the end. The trouble for the main character is, the proof is at the end but it is not apparent. The mystery to be solved is that the main character, Andy Thomas, believes that his relative Cole Joseph Bonner did not steal his family's money. The problem is that he is the only one in his family that believes this. His best friend J.J. Gasper the 7th (J.J. is James Jonathan) is trying to prove Andy right but the problem is J.J.'s great grandmother, Miz Minna, doesn't like the fact that Andy is digging up old family secrets that may change their town's history. the reason that it may change the town history is because J.J. the 1st is a huge hero, and she doesn't want to loose her family honor. I would recommend this book to just about anyone who can read. I think that people would like this book because its a funny, tense, and in some ways complicated book that tells about Andy's determination to prove Coley Joe Bonner innocent.

An excellent mystery for 10 to 12 year olds. It shows how to research via the Internet as well as libraries. In addition it is a great introduction to genealogy.

This book is filled with suspence. Andy's search filled me with many questions. Joan Lowery Nixion ties the book up with an extrodanary ending. This book mixes a little history into a mystery. I would recemend this book to anyone who loves reading mysteries. GREAT BOOK