"The Agreement Is Not To Be Broken, It Is Permanent," Death had told them. This is the agreement: the Vickery house is split in two, an east end and west end. Lee and his Mother serve Memory in the east end and, Felix and his father assist Death in the west end. Felix and Lee can see each other and Lee can see his Mother and Felix can see his father but, their parents can not meet and, Felix and Lee can not see the other parent. The House In Poplar Wood is about two families that are both torn apart: the Vickeries, a family that is divided and unable to lay eyes on each other, and the Whipples, a family that is greedy and powerful and no longer really cares for each other. Their families are sworn enemies but, one Halloween, Gretchen Whipple comes along with a bargain for the Vickery twins. If they help her solve the murder of Essie Hasting, a local school girl, she'll help them break the agreement. But, the more they investigate, the more they discover about the wretched history of their town. Death had escaped and if they don't hurry up, their may not be a town left to save anymore. Together, this story is about a girl's desire to make a difference, two boys longing to be free, a boy wanting to be free of his past, and a family's undying love for each other for many long years.
The House In Poplar Wood was a real page-turner. I rated this book a 4/5 stars because I loved the concept of the book, how Memory, Passion, and Death were thought of like real people. I liked that the shades weren't perfect and they could be removed if they weren't doing their job. I liked how the Whipples and Vickeries were sworn enemies, but their kids worked together to save the town. I also found it very creative of the author to make both the kids of the Whipple family, the Mayor’s children, not too good students, and they both struggled in different things. I think that this was a good thing to add to the story to help show that even this family was not perfect. I also liked that the Whipples and the Vickeries were very alike, but it just took a little while for them to realize that. I think this book was really well written, every sentence felt so meaningful and most interactions from character to character helped me picture their personalities very well. I would recommend this book to anyone in 4-8 grade.
