What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

This is the longest shot of all time, but here goes: The main story line involves a young boy whose image in the mirror starts communicating with him. It may be a ghost/demon/his doppelganger from an alternate universe. It starts to scare him - to the point where he wets himself and asks his father to cover the mirror. Some specific details I remember - he loves his father but doesn't have a great relationship with his mother. At one point he goes to summer camp and brings home a turtle from a pond to keep as a pet. On the bus ride home he is bullied and the turtle is nearly killed. The turtle lives in a pet home in his backyard built by his father - I believe his mother did not want it in the house. There is a vicious dog in his neighborhood and it gets into the back yard and kills the turtle. The boy suspects his mother of leaving the gate open for that very purpose. The boy's father dies in a car accident, I think. Long story short (too late), I think the mirror image is trying to take over the boy's life? And may be a female version of him? Possibly created by his mother? I swear I did not dream or make up this story! So frustrating to remember so many specific details but not the title or author. Anybody up for a challenge? :)

Searching "in the mirror" "his father" "turtle" "mother" "summer camp" online I found Wild Fell by Michael Rowe. From the readers' descriptions it sounds like it has a lot in common with the book you're looking for!

Mai wrote: "Searching "in the mirror" "his father" "turtle" "mother" "summer camp" online I found Wild Fell by Michael Rowe. From the readers' descriptions it sounds like it ha..."

Wow, Mai! I searched all those words and phrases and couldn't come up with a thing - it was driving me crazy. You must have mad internet skills. :) That is the EXACT book I was looking for. Thank you so much!

You remembered many details and that always helps with the search! I'm glad this is the book you were looking for!!
I think the key of searches are the "" so that Google looks for those exact words and avoiding writing "boy", "man", "woman", etc. and instead use "his" "her". And longer specific phrases like "in the mirror" instead of just "mirror", which is probably a part of the description of thousands of books! Not very sophisticated skills :-P

Mai wrote: "You remembered many details and that always helps with the search! I'm glad this is the book you were looking for!!
I think the key of searches are the "" so that Google looks for those exact word..."

Aha! Got it - quotation marks are the key - now I know. :) Thanks again!