Module 9/SLIS 5420 Mysteries

Nightmare

by Joan Lowery Nixon

2004 ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Readers






Summary

Emily Wood is a teen who witnesses a murder as a small child and represses the memory. She is raised in a family with two older, overachieving sisters, but Emily would prefer to be invisible. She has recurring nightmares of the murder scene, but is incapable of sharing the dreams with others. Her parents enroll her in Camp Excel, a summer camp for under-achievers, never dreaming that their daughter could be in danger. Emily realizes that she has seen something that somebody in the camp will do anything to keep covered up, because even if she has forgotten the past, the murderer has never forgotten her.

My Impressions

Nightmare moves quickly, and offers a suspenseful, although somewhat predictable plot. The characters are believable, and the constant attention given to Emily by the 'well-meaning' psychologists is actually quite frightening, considering they're status as murder suspects. The climax seems a little contrived; Emily and her friends are deathly afraid of leaving her alone, but she still descends (without her friends) into a dangerous cave with all of the murder suspects. Hmm... not very smart. However, Nightmare is still an entertaining thriller that will keep young readers engaged from the beginning to end.

Reviews

Since childhood, 10th-grade Emily has had nightmares about a shadowy, slimy place where she is entangled with vines and sees a body lying in water. She is so petrified by this dream about the open-mouthed and blankly staring corpse that she is unable to confide in anyone. Her parents are upset because she won't let them help her and are frustrated because she doesn't take after her two brilliant sisters. They send her to Camp Excel, an experimental program for underachievers, where Emily has a sense of deja vu, and her true nightmare begins when she realizes her life is in danger. Elements of suspense and mystery are cleverly integrated with the teen's problems resulting from what she witnessed as a child. Readers will once again fall under Nixon's spell as they enjoy this page-turner.
Susan Cooley, formerly at Tower Hill School, Wilmington, DE for School Library Journal

The nightmare has haunted teenage Emily Wood since she was a child: a crumpled body lying half in and half out of the water; dead eyes in a pale, bloody face; a mouth open in a scream that no one can hear. Did it really happen? Whose body is it? Who was the killer? And who is now stalking Emily at Camp Excel, the summer camp for underachievers that her parents have forced her to attend?.... Readers will rush with Emily to solve the puzzle, even as they shudder at the occasional terse statements by the killer, who is steadily getting closer to another victim. The climactic confrontation in a creepy cave in the Texan Hills is unforgettable. Hazel Rochman for Booklist

Activities

Have the students solve some murder mysteries. Here are some links to murder mysteries that can be solved by a classroom of students:

http://www.cambridge.org/us/ESL/letstalk/support/optional/l3u03oa.htm

http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?catid=58148&docid=154249

http://www.lessonplanspage.com/LAMurderMysteryAgathaChristieGameLesson912.htm

http://www.ehow.com/how_2108914_host-mystery-classroom.html

Bibliography

Nixon, Joan Lowery. Nightmare. New York: Delacorte Press, 2003. ISBN: 0440237734