Ginger High by Melissa Burmester

Ginger High is no ordinary school. It is a school for students with special powers. Many years ago people came to Earth from the Kingdom of Animist, a parallel universe. Two long time friends, Matthias and Amanta, attended the school and then returned home to Animist. The school has had many unexplained deaths. Daisy Fisher attends the school after her old school burns down. Matthias and Amanta are called back to the school to help solve the mysteries. What are powers? And what is with this crazy school? Welcome to Ginger High.

First off, I would like to give major kudos to Miss Burmester for being a published author at the young age of 14. Ginger High was written at the age of 12 and the fact that she was able to have it published two years later is quite the accomplishment.

This was a very neat story ... with parallel universes, a school for kids with super powers, supernatural creatures, a war in the midst, students being mysteriously attacked, oh and, of course, a cute boy. I enjoyed the story line as well as I thought there were some great characters in the story. My only complaint would be with character definition. I really wish there would have been “more” to all the characters. I felt that I couldn’t identify or relate with any them because there just wasn’t enough substance. I also felt that the ending didn’t wrap up and left a few loose ends - but that might be because I now read that Ginger High will be a series.

This is a fast moving story with plenty of twists and just enough action and adventure to keep the pages flowing. I believe this is geared toward young adults but I can definitely recommend to younger tweens as well. This is a wonderful debut for Miss Burmester and I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for her future work.