Schroeder, Lisa. 2008. I heart you, you haunt me. New York: Simon Pulse.
Set in the present day this verse novel is about a 15-year old girl named Ava. Ava like many teenage girls her age longs to get her drivers license, is saving up for a car, and likes going to the mall with her best friend. However unlike other girls her boyfriend Jackson just died, it is all Ava’s fault and now he’s back as ghost! Ava is happy to have Jackson back in her life but what kind of life could they possibly have together?
Written in narrative free verse, the novel is peppered with flashbacks that tell how Ava and Jackson met and give the reader an understanding of their life together. Schroeder frequently incorporates music into the story to establish the mood:
The CD player turns on
You’re The One, by Sugarcult
A blue bouncy ball
rolls across the floor.
I pick it up
There’s scribbled writing,
hard to read.
I figure out it says:
Don’t be blue,
I love you!
Schroeder does an excellent job of conveying Ava's vast and strong emotions. The reader’s senses are ignited as they experience Ava’s feelings of love lost, love found, confusion, entrapment, guilt, anger, endless love, peace, and hope. It is these feelings that not only move the story but give it its power.
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