Lightning Chase Me Home
by Amber Lee Dodd
Interest age: 9 to 11
Reading age: 9+
Published by Scholastic, 2019
About this book
Amelia lives with her father, grandfather and dog in a weatherbeaten house on the small Scottish island of Dark Muir. It’s an island steeped in myths and legends, and with a permanent sense of a storm brewing, no matter the season.
On her eleventh birthday, and in island tradition, Amelia makes a wish on the mystical Serpent’s Tooth Rock. Almost immediately, odd things begin to happen and it becomes apparent that her particular wish (to see her absent mother again) has awoken a strange and deeply powerful magic.
This is an unusual adventure story that successfully holds the reader under its spell. A growing sense of danger rumbles in the background and sudden flashes of magic streak through the book. Its appealing heroine (named by her mother after fearless explorers Amelia Earhart and Hester Stanhope) wrestles with the challenges of dyslexia, a new school, an unpleasant bully and a grandparent with dementia, while ultimately trying to solve the mystery of Serpent’s Tooth Rock.
A highly satisfying read, combining a convincing contemporary context with timeless mystery and magic.
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