Imagine a place with rolling California hills and the freshest fruit in the land. You still with me? Then, think about a giant castle-looking house perched on a cliff. Finally, if your parents died in a tragic boating accident, and now you have to deal with your aunt and uncle. This is reality for twins Henry and Eva. In the book Henry and Eva and The Castle on the Cliff by Andrea Portes, the twins have to deal with this.  They know their parents died in a boating accident, but they don’t know anything else. When the question of how they died is resurfaced, they suspect foul play.  Furthermore, ghosts of their dead relatives arise from their graves to tell them there is more to the story, so they set out to find the real reason of their parent’s deaths.  In their journey, they’ll have to find their way through old family friends, mystery shipwrecks, and crazy parties to find the answer. Will they ever know what happened to their parents?  Or will it remain shrouded in mystery? Read Henry and Eva and the Castle on the Cliff to find out!

    I would personally recommend this book to Alika Cho in 6th grade.  She is an avid reader, and she also likes mysteries. She’s read many books this year and finished the Iditaread quickly, but she hasn’t read this one.  I’ve seen her reading books like A Particular Incident on Shady Street and other mysteries.  I think she would really like this book because of its many twist and turns and also because it keeps you on your toes.  Everybody loves a book that you just can’t stop reading. This is why I think the book would be great for her.

Check out Alika’s Shelf of Ideas – http://alikacho.edublogs.org