cover image The Titanic Locket

The Titanic Locket

Suzanne Weyn. Scholastic, $6.99 trade paper (208p) ISBN 978-0-545-58842-3

As she did in her YA novel Distant Waves, Weyn spins a Titanic-themed story with supernatural underpinnings in this hair-raising first book in the Haunted Museum series, part of the Hauntings line. After viewing an exhibit of Titanic memorabilia at the Haunted Museum in Southampton, England, sisters Jessica and Samantha Burnett board Titanic 2, a replica liner whose maiden voyage will follow the route of the original ship. The re-enactment starts off innocently enough: a crew member assigns the girls the identities of fictional sisters who were passengers on Titanic and encourages them to wear period costumes from the ship’s wardrobe department. But soon a string of creepy incidents occur: tapping from behind their cabin wall, mysterious reappearances of an eerie locket the siblings spotted in the museum, a maid who shape-shifts into a skeleton, and Jessica’s near-drowning in the bathtub by an invisible force. Weyn keeps unexpected chills coming, nimbly linking past and present with visits by the spirits of Titanic passengers, including the ghosts of Jessica and Samantha’s 1912 alter egos. A quick, jittery read. Ages 8–12. [em](May) [/em]