Search for the Shadowman (Hardcover)

by Joan Lowery Nixon (Author) "Why'd Mr. Hammergren give us such a dumb assignment?" Andy Thomas complained to his best friend, J.J. Andy impatiently kicked at a small rock..." (more)
Key Phrases: poetry book, Coley Joe, Miz Minna, Miss Winnie (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
An assignment to research his family history leads a boy to discover an intriguing secretAbut to solve the mystery he may risk hurting those he loves. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8-A thrilling search through a family's dark past. What starts out as a simple family-history project turns into an obsessive hunt for the truth behind an old family feud. Andy Bonner is determined to get to the bottom of a mystery involving an ancestor who had supposedly stolen his parents' money and been disowned. The more he learns from his Great Aunt Winnie and her nemesis, his best friend's great-grandmother, the more he needs to know. His investigation takes him from the World Wide Web to the town cemetery, to family sources who refuse to talk. As usual, Nixon's main character is an ordinary kid with extraordinary resourcefulness. When Andy learns the truth, he must decide whether to keep the secret to himself, or destroy the reputation of the town's founding father and hurt his best friend. Nixon has once again delivered a riveting tale of suspense set against a background of fascinating historical context, brought up to date through e-mail and the Internet.
Julie Halverstadt, Douglas Public Library District, Castle Rock, CO
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers; 5th printing edition (October 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385322038
• ISBN-13: 978-0385322034
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #797,172 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Is Mysterious, Scary, And Great, April 5, 2005

By	Desiree Way "Desire" (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

In this book Shadow Man you will experience some sad, mysterious, and shocking things. Initially, the main character in the story, twelve-year-old Andy Thomas isn't thrilled with his teacher's assignment to explore family history. But when asking questions about his ancestors, he is surprised to discover a relative named Coley Joe Bonner. No one wants to discuss what went on in the family's past. Andy searches everywhere to gather information about his family's past, from the Internet to the local cemetery. The family is telling Andy to stop his investigation. "Will Andy's search hurt those he love or make them realize that it's never too late to seek justice?" Twelve-year-old Andy Thomas, who was assigned to a project where he had to find out a lot of things about his family history. He goes through old boxes, family trees, and old photo albums to find out everything he can. Andy looks through all of these old boxes and finds that there is a guy on a photo that's not shown. When Andy asks around about who he is they say his name is Coley Joe, but refuses to tell anything else about him. He goes to J.J.'s house (his best friend) to go see Miz Minna, for some information. When he asks her what he does, she says that he stole the family money and was taken out of the family bible. Knowing Andy he goes to the Internet, then the library, then to the cemetery. Doing all of that research, it gets him on to a investigation. He uses his dad's screen name, Hunter, to ask people in the chat rooms about Coley Joe. He finds out some things about Coley Joe, but that doesn't help his search. Someone in the chat room sends Andy some letters that Coley Joe sent to his girlfriend Felicity. He printed them out, set them down, and headed toward the cemetery. When he got there, a man named Elton was there and he was kind of scary. He knew some things about Coley Joe, but he mostly kept telling Andy to find out what the Bonners want to tell him. Andy is really confused about what is going on. But to find out what the family's secret is you'll have to read the book! But as a hint, the mystery to be solved is that the main character, Andy Thomas, believes that his relative Cole Joseph Bonner did not steal his family's money. The problem is that he is the only one in his family that believes this. His best friend J.J. Gasper the 7th (J.J. is James Jonathan Gasper) is trying to prove that Andy is right but the problem is J.J.'s great grandmother, Miz Minna, doesn't like the fact that Andy is digging up old family secrets that may change their town's history. So while he's digging up things, Miz Minna is giving Andy warning signs to stop researching about Coley Joe or something bad was going to happen to him. Imagine that you were Andy and your family thinks a relative in your family stole family money, what would you do? I know, you would try to figure out the real story just as Andy did. This book is filled with suspense. Andy's search filled me with many questions. The author of this book wrote this book very well and she has been called "the grande dame of young adult mysteries". She has served as vice president of the Southwest Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America and is the only four-time winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Best Juvenile Mystery Award. Joan, the author, has won awards for many of her books. So if she has won many awards and was vice president of the Southwest Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America then there is no wonder why the book is so good. In reading this book I thought that it would be excellent for kids' ages 8-15 years of age. After you read this review/article, I recommend you go and get this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Searching for a good book? Try Search for the Shadowman, December 8, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Search for the Shadowman (Joan Lowery Nixon) (Paperback)

12/08/04


Searching for a good Book? Try Search for the Shadowman.
This mysterious story will have you on the edge of your seat waiting to see if what is around the next corner is what ends the story or makes even it more mysterious. If you read this tense mystery you will not be able to put it down. It doesn't just keep telling you what's going to happen with clues all over the story. The truth doesn't appear until the end when the story has been narrowed down to a straight line and all that needs to be done is find the proof at the end. The trouble for the main character is, the proof is at the end but it is not apparent. The mystery to be solved is that the main character, Andy Thomas, believes that his relative Cole Joseph Bonner did not steal his family's money. The problem is that he is the only one in his family that believes this. His best friend J.J. Gasper the 7th (J.J. is James Jonathan) is trying to prove Andy right but the problem is J.J.'s great grandmother, Miz Minna, doesn't like the fact that Andy is digging up old family secrets that may change their town's history. the reason that it may change the town history is because J.J. the 1st is a huge hero, and she doesn't want to loose her family honor. I would recommend this book to just about anyone who can read. I think that people would like this book because its a funny, tense, and in some ways complicated book that tells about Andy's determination to prove Coley Joe Bonner innocent.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Search for the Shadowman,is a faboulous book!, October 8, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Search for the Shadowman (Joan Lowery Nixon) (Paperback)

In Search for te Shadowman by Joan Lowery Nixon the main character Andy Thompson gets an assignment from his history teacher and begins a search for a fellow in his family tree known as Coley Joe. A mystery surrounds Coley Joe's being crossed off the family tree by a betrayal of trust. Only trouble is Andy doesn't know think Coley Joe is guilty and sets out to prove his innocence, with some tough research.

I liked this story 's use of the computer,E-mail,library research and detective footwork to help Andy solve the mystery about Coley Joe. More than the research I enjoyed learing about Andy as a person by the way he handled his assignment. Andy showed his and faithfulness to his research, his family and his friend by achieving his goal of clearing Coley Joe's name, making his family proud of their ancestor and still honoring his friendship with J.J.

Even when Andy's research could have given him fame and fortune, it would have also hurt his bestfriend and his family. Andy chose the only honorable way to end the long lost search for the shadowman.