The Light in the Lake

Three months before the start of this debut novel, 12-year-old Addie’s twin brother, Amos, fell through the ice into Maple Lake, the deepest lake in Vermont and their favorite place. Addie is still grieving when she earns the opportunity to join a local Young Scientist summer program, assisting a university’s biological station in its investigation of Maple Lake’s pollution. It’s Addie’s dream to become an aquatic biologist, and although she feels that the lake remains “a part of me that hurts to look at,” she feels deeply connected to it. Amos took meticulous notes about a creature he believed lived in its waters, “something ancient and huge and shining,” and after Addie is given a tooth too large to be a whale’s, she interprets it as her first clue. With a new friend, Tai, at her side, she sets out to solve Amos’s mystery, as well as the source of the lake’s pollution. In Baughman’s skillful handling, Addie’s memories of her brother and her first-person voice are both heartbreaking and hopeful. The novel offers a gentle, introspective exploration of grief and the wonder and fragility of nature, creating a beautiful and dynamic world in which the scientific method and magic coexist. Ages 8–12. [em](Sept.) [/em]