Laurie, a happy teenager, has a good life. She�s got a popular boyfriend, friends, a great family and lives in a quaint little beach town. Everything changes when she discovers that she was adopted and has a twin sister. Laurie and her sister are Native Americans and have the ability to project their souls out of their bodies to other places. Laurie�s twin, Lia, visits Laurie often and wants her to learn to project her soul as well. Her best friend warns her against it, but Laurie won�t listen and terrible things begin to happen.
The plot of this story is far fetched, but at some point I found myself so intrigued that I didn�t really care that it was far fetched, and I believe most young adults will feel the same way. �The element of the supernatural is so gradually and deftly introduced into the story that its presence seems natural and believable...� (School Library Journal). The conflict is interesting. It is Laurie vs. Lia, but Laurie isn�t aware of this conflict until almost the end of the novel. The reader isn�t certain that this is the main conflict either, but can make an educated guess that this is what it will be. Laurie withdraws from her family, friends and school in her pursuit to know Lia and learn how to project her soul elsewhere. The climax occurs when Laurie finally is able to project her soul and discovers that Lia is locked up in a mental institution. When Laurie tries to return to her body, she finds that Lia�s soul has taken over Laurie�s body. The resolution occurs when Laurie�s little sister uses a medallion that wards off evil spirits on Lia, and Laurie is able to return to her own body (Duncan 232).
Characters are revealed through their speech and their actions. Laurie is also revealed by her thoughts and emotions. Laurie is your average teenager until she becomes obsessed with Lia and the ability to use astral projection. We see how her personality changes as she withdraws from her family and spends more and more time with Lia. At the beginning of the story she is loving and patient with her siblings. Later, she won�t even hang out with them like she used to. We see how angry Lia gets when Laurie is unable to project her soul (Duncan 126). It�s obvious from her anger that she has some ulterior motive in wanting Laurie to learn how to do this. We can tell that Helen is a good friend who is worried about Laurie from the way she continues to warn her not to try the astral projection. This is also shown by the fact that Helen gives Laurie her treasured medallion. She obviously feels that Laurie needs protection more than she does. Jeff is another important character. He is unwilling to completely drop his guard and open himself up to Laurie until she confides in him about Lia and her past. We see how he finally stops acting like a tough guy and becomes one of the only real friends Laurie has.
The setting is somewhat important, but not crucial to the plot. The fact that Laurie and her family live on an island isolates her. There are other children her age that live on the island, but she feels isolated from them because they are the rich, popular kids who were only friends with her because her boyfriend was one of them. If she had friends showing up at her house, it might have been harder for her to become so withdrawn and obsessed with Lia. The time period is probably somewhere in the 1980�s. If it was written later and set in today�s world, the Internet probably would�ve played a role in Laurie�s search for information about her sister and her past.
The theme seems to be a mix of �be careful what you wish for� and the idea of being happy with what you have. Laurie wants to be able to do astral projection more than anything. She becomes obsessed with the idea and with learning more about Lia. Her parents and her best friend keep telling her to just let it go, but she won�t. This leads to danger for her friends, family and herself. This theme emerges naturally as we see how bad things occur as the result of Laurie�s obsession and refusal to let the past stay buried.
The story is told in first person from Laurie's point of view. The overall tone and mood is one of suspense. There are a few lighter moments, such as the romantic scenes between Jeff and Laurie. Foreshadowing is used to help the reader guess that Lia is evil. For instance, when Laurie finds out she was adopted her parents tell her they were going to take both the twins, but when Laurie's mother held Lia she felt something evil (Duncan 70).
This frightening supernatural mystery is well written and young adults will be �completely caught up in this suspenseful, gripping book� (School Library Journal).
Sanhuber, Holly. 1981. Stranger with My Face (Book). School Library Journal 28, no. 3:103.
