Down a Dark HallWhen her newlywed mother and stepfather decide to have their honeymoon overseas, fourteen-year-old Kit Gordy is enrolled at a new private boarding school called Blackwood. Devastated to be separated from her long time best friend Tracy, Kit is reluctant to go to the new school. Because of her mother's honeymoon, Kit arrives at the school a day before the other students. As their car drives up the driveway, the word "evil" flashes through her mind and a feeling of uneasiness settles over her. She is welcomed by Madame Duret, a French woman who owns, runs and is the principal of Blackwood (she has also run other schools in Paris and London). The other teachers at the school are Jules Duret(her son who Kit has a crush on),and Professor Farley. The next day, the other students arrive. Kit is expecting there to be maybe thirty or forty kids. First comes Sandy Mason, who quickly becomes Kit's closest friend. Ruth Stark and Lynda Hannah arrive next. To their shock, the four girls discover that they are the only students. As their school years begins, Kit starts having nightmares and cannot shake her feelings of uneasiness. She slowly begins to discover the horrifying secret to why she and the other three students were the only ones selected.
Kit, Ruth, Sandy, and Lynda are possessed by famous spirits of artists, musicians, mathematicians and poets, such as Emily Brontë, Schubert, and Thomas Cole.But they soon figure out with the help of Jules that all of the other girls from Madame's schools have either committed suicide or gone into mental institutions. Kit escapes when Blackwood catches on fire, even after she saves Lynda and sees her father (in spirit).
Jacob Have I LovedJacob Have I Loved is a novel by Katherine Paterson that won the 1981 Newbery Medal. The title refers to the sibling rivalry between Jacob and Esau in the Jewish and Christian Bible, and comes directly from the Romans 9:13. The verse states, As it is written, "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."
Set in the early 1940s on an island called Rass Island in Chesapeake Bay, the novel follows the story of the Bradshaws, a family who depends on the father, Truitt, and his crabbing/fishing business, on his boat, the Portia Sue. Truitt's two daughters, Sara Louise and Caroline, are twins--and Caroline is always ahead. She is prettier, smarter, more talented, and kinder. Frail, artistic Caroline receives more attention from their parents, and others in the community.
The book traces Louise's attempts to free herself from Caroline's shadow, even as she grows into adulthood.
Source 1 2 (as required by 3) -- Jon
