Aviva vs. the dybbuk

"Since the 'accident' Aviva has lived with her mother in a tiny apartment above the mikvah that serves the women of their Orthodox shul. Aviva's good at sports. She's smart, but struggling a bit in school. She HAD a best friend, Kayla, but for mysterious reasons they've fallen out, and the other girls at school have sided against Aviva. Making matters worse, Aviva's mother has never quite recovered from the event that took Aviva's father's life. The community tries to help, but there's always a reason to turn down invitations to Shabbat dinner or other social occasions. Then there's the dybbuk, a ghostly boy who makes himself visible only to Aviva, and who does his best to cause trouble--emptying the purse of one visitor to the mikvah when she's not looking. Tearing up the check of another, when they really need the money. The dybbuk's antics start to get worse and worse, just as Aviva's deteriorated friendship with Kayla is pushed to a point of confrontation, and the town they both live in experiences a frightening escalation of anti-Semitic violence and vandalism...bringing up long-repressed memories of family tragedy. This story is intensely suspenseful and full of the questions so many middle schoolers face...from will I stop feeling so isolated at school to will our community be the target of intolerance and violence. But what gives this story such rich texture and detail are the surroundings and perspective of a contemporary Orthodox Jewish girl. Debut author Mari Lowe shows us the feelings of one appealing and vulnerable girl, in a story that is the definition of achieving the universal through the specific. Contributing to middle school readers what writers like Chaim Potok, Philip Roth, and Nathan Englander have given to adults, Mari Lowe combines elements of mystery, religion, and everyday troubles into an unforgettable story of one indomitable girl and the close community that is never more than a hands-reach away"--Provided by the publisher.