Judge A Book By Its Cover

Littke, Tael. Lake of Secrets. Henry Holt and Company. New York, New York. 2002

Lake of Secrets, written by the famous author, Tael Littke has uncommon humor and a strange story line. This book takes a completely different approach than a normal mystery thriller. This book is unpopular because of the ridiculous characters and their intentions.

Lake of Secrets is about a quiet family that lived on the outskirts of a small town. The family of four that went by the name Hucklebee. The Hucklebee's lived like any other normal family. The mother and father and two children, Margaret and Jonny, were very traditional and didn't believe in the world's choices of politics and scientific reasoning. They lived in a small home over looking Lake Groovy. No one ever thought about why the lake had it's name. The Hucklebee family was about to find out.

The oldest child, Margaret, was the wild one in the family. She always attempted to sneak out at night and hang out with her friends or party. Margaret loved to boat on the lake. She seemed to be magnetized to the water.

Every night, Margaret would hear sounds coming from the lake. One night, not being able to sleep, Margaret decided to see where the noises were coming from. She went out to Lake Groovy and got into the boat. The lake was calm and quiet but she could still hear a slight sound coming from the bottom. After sitting in the boat for most of the night, the water burst into a huge current. Margaret fell into water and was sucked the floor of the lake by an unworldly force. She then realized Groovy Lake was not just a normal lake but a town of its own.

Once Margaret opened her eyes she saw Go-Go Girls everywhere. From the big sunglasses to their mini plaid skirts red shoes they just stood and looked at her. Margaret thought they would be completely harmless, since they were just Go-Go Girls, but as redness filled their eyes Margaret knew that she had to get out of their town.

The Hucklebee family woke up the next morning and noticed Margaret was gone. Jonny went outside to find her and saw her floating in the boat on the lake. As he yelled for her he noticed she was in a complete Go-Go girl costume with an evilness filling her eyes, which looked like a spirit was inside of her. Before Jonny had the chance to scream, Margaret jumped on him and took him down the Go-Go city where she had been the night before.

As years past, every family who had lived in the old Hucklebee house seemed to magically disappear. Then one day an investigator decided he would learn the secrets that the little lake house held. Once he entered the drive-way he noticed a red convertible sitting on the dock by the river. Hundreds of Go-Go Girls rose from the lake and began walking towards him.

Lake of Secrets is not a good book to read because it is completely ridiculous to have Go-Go Girls under the water, they should at least have snorkels. Lake of Secrets received an Interesting Book award in 2005. This book would not be the best book for younger children to read because of the character's ideas. If you are interested in a book with a plot that is odd, then this is the book for you...

2 out of 5 stars

Contributed by H. Ross
Feb. 5th 2007