The third book about "ghost magnet" Allie Nichols, age 11, who this time is contacted by the restless spirit of a dog. Once again, she shares her ghostly adventure with her best friend, Dub, in this chilling installment, The Ghost of Cutler Creek. Allie Nichols has hardly laid the last spirit to rest when she's sure that another one is trying to reach her. But how can Allie help a ghost who won't speak? All she has to go on is a sound—a sort of whine—and a smell. At the same time, a strange boy joins her sixth-grade class. Allie doesn't understand why L. J. Cutler would start a new school at the end of the year, or why he's such a surly kid. She wants nothing to do with him. Then Mr. Henry, a teacher she loves, asks Allie to dog-sit Hoover, his golden retriever, while he's away and to befriend L.J. over the summer. She's delighted to spend time with Hoover, but she hardly looks forward to visiting L. J. Cutler—until she discovers a connection between L.J., the ghost, and Hoover. “As always, DeFelice tells a gripping, suspenseful story, keeping readers engaged with realistically depicted human as well as animal characters.” —The Horn Book

From beloved author Cynthia DeFelice, The Ghost of Fossil Glen marks the first installment in this gripping middle grade series featuring sixth-grader and ghost magnet Allie Nichols, who solves mysteries with the help of her friend Dub. Allie Nichols knows she's being pursued by a ghost. But her friend Karen calls her a liar and doesn't want to hear "stuff like that." It is Allie's old pal Dub who listens eagerly as Allie tells him about a voice that guides her safely down a steep cliff side, the face in her mind's eye of a girl who begs "Help me," and a terrible nightmare in which that girl falls to her death. Who is the girl? Is she the ghost? And what does the ghost want from Allie? As Allie discovers that her role is to avenge a murder, she also learns something about friendship, false and true, in this chilling tale from bestselling author Cynthia DeFelice.

The second mystery solved by Allie Nichols, "ghost magnet", from author Cynthia DeFelice, author of The Ghost of Fossil Glen Just a few short weeks ago, sixth-grader Allie Nichols realized that she must be some kind of ghost magnet when she met the spirit of a murdered girl. Now, a new ghost has appeared to her, a handsome young man, and he's pointed her in the direction of her creepy cafeteria lady, Mrs. Hobbs. Allie has always suspected Mrs. Hobbs of something, and this just confirms it. So do the mysterious fires that keep breaking out every time Allie tries to investigate her. Surely Mrs. Hobbs isn't going to kill her. Or is she? “Another dangerously thrilling supernatural adventure . . . A diverting and suspenseful ghost story offering a likeable protagonist and a thrilling romantic spark.” —The Horn Book

In Bringing Ezra Back, Nathan Fowler returns to rescue his friend who helped him escape danger in this action-packed sequel to Cynthia DeFelice's beloved Weasel. September 1840 marks five months since twelve-year-old Nathan Fowler's life-threatening encounter with Weasel, the heartless man who stalked Nathan like a wild animal through the forest. Nathan hasn't been the same since, wary of every new person he meets - including the visiting peddler Orrin Beckwith. When Beckwith shows Nate and his family a handbill advertising a show with a "white Injun," a man without a tongue, Nathan is sure the man is his friend Ezra, who lost his tongue to Weasel's knife. Determined to save Ezra from this traveling show of "human oddities," Nathan sets out with Beckwith from Ohio to Pennsylvania. On the way, Nathan encounters more people than he's ever met before, and he begins to learn a thing or two about human nature. The biggest shock, however, is Ezra himself, and it will take more than Nathan bargained for to bring him back home.

Erik is preparing for his first-ever hunting trip when he learns that his parents are being deployed to Iraq. A few days later, Erik is shipped off to North Dakota to live with Big Darrell and Oma, grandparents he barely knows. When Erik rescues a dog that's been stuck by a porcupine, Big Darrell says Erik can't keep him. But Erik has already named her Quill and can't bear to give her up. He decides to run away, taking the dog and a shotgun, certain that they can make it on their own out on the prairie. In this story of adventure and survival, Erik learns about the challenges and satisfactions of living off the land, the power of family secrets, and the pain of losing what you love.

While coping with his parents' separation, eleven-year-old Skeet spends most of spring break in his skiff on a Florida river, where he finds a manatee shot to death and begins looking for the killer.

Nelly May Nimble and her twelve brothers and sisters live with their parents in a tiny cottage in the Bottoms, where there's never enough food to feed so many hungry mouths. Nelly May decides that she is old enough to earn her keep and takes a job as Lord Ignasius Pinkwinkle's new housekeeper and cook. Along with her many chores, Lord Pinkwinkle also expects Nelly May to learn his own special language. So Nelly May gets to work, using a wet scooperooty to hold the water she mops the floor with and then cooking supper for him, the Most Excellent of All Masters. But late that night, when a spark from the flaming-pop-and-sizzle lands on the fur-faced-fluffenbarker's wigger-wagger, Nelly May puts her foot down. She'll save his roof-topped castleorum, but she will not be his fuzzy-dust-and-fooder any longer. In Nelly May Has Her Say, Cynthia DeFelice and Henry Cole team up for a fun-filled romp that makes a great read aloud. A Margaret Ferguson Book