LitPick Review
Polly Parker is excited when she wakes up on her fourteenth birthday. Today is a big day for her, not only because it’s her birthday, but it’s her Separation day. Separation is a rite of passage granted to anyone fourteen or older. It’s a procedure performed on the individual to sort the light and the dark within them. The dark will become her visible shadow and getting to know your shadow is one of the scariest things you’ll ever do in your life. When her parents take her to the New Heights Separation Center, she’s nervous about the unknown, but also excited to perform this rite of passage finally. Choosing the Separation procedure is the only way you can find the six secrets that everyone would like to eventually achieve for themselves. In doing so, each secret helps you conquer your bad things that exist within your shadow. Your ultimate goal is to eventually not have a shadow anymore. The nurse starts the procedure, and it goes off without a hitch. Or so they think. Polly realizes she feels something burning on her right forearm. Her skin now has a brownish-red patch, which was never there before, and feels tough to the touch. The nurse has fear in her eyes, but can’t figure out what exactly went wrong during the procedure that she has performed for over twenty years. Polly leaves with her parents assured there’s nothing to worry about.
Polly now has to not only adjust to having a shadow, but also learn what this brownish-red patch really means for her specifically. She’s excited though because not only does she now have her own shadow, but she also qualifies to attend the Higher Realm School of Exploration and Reintegration. In this magical school, she will learn how to prepare herself to be an educated adult, while she works at finding the six Master Skills, AKA Six Secrets, which will help her reintegrate her shadow back into herself again. When you find each secret, your shadow begins to breakdown and turns from bad to good in different stages. Just like every new student at school, Polly has to deal with learning the ropes of the new school, studying hard to pass her courses, and she has to deal with bullies that want her to be unsuccessful with her reintegration. Does Polly ever find out what the brownish-red patch is on her forearm? How many of the six secrets does she find? Is she able to start making her shadow reintegrate into herself?
Opinion:
I absolutely loved this first book in the Secrets of the Shadow series! The characters were so believable that I felt they were real people I could reach out and touch. I developed feelings for Polly and her friends, and I wanted them to be able to succeed in each of their reintegration transitions. Ms. Lowery created her characters to be believable to her readers that you forget your reading a work of fiction. I found myself feeling as if Polly and her friends were friends of mine as well. In addition, I was so invested into this story that I believed I was seeing, feeling, and experiencing things as if I was another character hoping to find my own six secrets.
The concepts of this mystical realm each person lived in and their shadows being the dark traits of each of them were beyond imaginary. Honestly, I felt this whole story was a complimentary nod to the hugely successful Harry Potter franchise, and honestly I would love to see this book turned into a movie as well. It had its own unique flair and children, as well as adults alike, will find themselves falling in love with the characters and storyline.
Another thing I just adored was that each student was able to adopt an animal of their own that became theirs. These small animals all had magical abilities that complemented their new owner. I found this to be a sweet concept, especially since the children were fourteen entering the Higher Realm School of Exploration and Reintegration and leaving their family homes to live at school with all new people they had to get to know. I felt having these animals not only helped them acclimate to living on a school campus, but they also were their companion animals with their own unique abilities. They helped the kids get themselves out of any kind of situation they might have found themselves in.
On a final note, if I had to pick out one place on the school’s campus that I loved, where the characters went there to spend time together, it would definitely be the hologram room. This room was so spectacular! The teens could go there to play video games with each other and even travel to other destinations without even leaving their seats. The technological aspect of this story was just as enjoyable as the story itself!
Overall, I found Polly Parker Meets Her Shadow a story that children, and adults like myself, will thoroughly enjoy. This is the first book in the Secrets of the Shadow series, and I am eagerly awaiting to see what happens to Polly and her friends starting their third year at the Higher Realm School of Exploration and Reintegration. Well done, Ms. Lowery!
