(4) 4-6 Eleven-year-old friends Wyatt and Augie spend the summer building a fort in the upstate New York woods; teaching local bullies a lesson; and defending their special-needs neighbor, Gerard. The plot is simplistic, and the juvenile humor often feels forced. But the boys' friendship rings true, and the premise--roughing it with no parental supervision--will appeal to young readers.

Reviewer: Amy Seto Forrester

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Henry Cole. When red-haired Nelly May heads up the hill in search of employment with Lord Pinkwinkle, the requirements of the job are to memorize his eccentric names for things: water is "rivertrickle," boots are "stompinwhackers," etc. DeFelice and Cole do a fine job of amending an absurdist English folktale; Cole's illustrations don't try to be too clever, and forefronted action makes it perfect for storytime.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2013

(3) 4-6 After getting his hunting license, Erik looks forward to tramping through pheasant fields with his best friend. But when his parents are deployed to Iraq, Erik is sent to his grandparents' farm. After his obstinate grandfather threatens the dog Erik rescues, boy and hound escape to the vast North Dakota fields. Strong characters and meticulous survival facts create a believable adventure.

Reviewer: Nancy Hull

(2) 4-6 After his mother's death, Owen and his father move to rural New York. Owen discovers an injured girl named Campion hiding in the woods and believes her fable about waiting for her parents' spaceship. DeFelice infuses the story with heart and grounds it in details. Even inexperienced mystery readers will guess Cam's secret, but they'll enjoy seeing Owen's growing competence.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2009

(3) 4-6 In her fourth supernatural mystery, "ghost magnet" Allie, twelve, is contacted by a murdered Seneca girl who seems upset about the town's summer pageant. As Allie and her best friend investigate, they learn about a brutal 1779 Native American massacre and they anger a ruthless developer who doesn't care about local history. The suspenseful series entry stands on its own.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn

(2) 4-6 Young Nathan discovers that Ezra Ketchum, the man who rescued Nathan's family in Weasel, is being exhibited in a freak show as "a man with no name and no tongue," and determines to free him. The nineteenth-century setting is well captured in this sequel that offers a fine opportunity to introduce the suspense of Weasel to a new generation of readers.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2006

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Andrea U'Ren. Kindly old Mr. and Mrs. O'Grady subsist on one potato a day. When Mr. O'Grady finds a huge pot, he puts their very last potato in it--and takes out two. When Mrs. O'Grady herself falls into the pot, complications ensue. Comically succinct, DeFelice's story is well matched by U'Ren's funny, energetic cartoon-style drafting.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2006

(4) 4-6 Skeet Waters does a lot of growing up over a short spring break. He catches his first tarpon with a fly, he struggles with his parents' separation, and he discovers a murdered manatee. In solving the murder mystery, he learns he must look beyond physical evidence. A cheesy epilogue takes the spark out of this fiction.

Reviewer: Hilary Breed Van Dusen

(2) 4-6 The end of sixth grade marks the beginning of another supernatural mystery for "Ghost Magnet" Allie and her best friend, Dub. Unlike the first two books, the ghost seeking Allie's intervention in this story is a dog--an abused dog in desperate need of help. As always, DeFelice tells a gripping, suspenseful story, keeping readers engaged with realistically depicted human and animal characters.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2004

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Cat Bowman Smith. When a sneaky thief steals Granny's beans, she heads to town to get the sheriff. Along the way she meets a snake, an alligator, a pecan, a cow patty, and a prickly cactus, each in turn asking Old Granny to "pick me up and put me in your sack. You'll be glad you did." Both the rollicking text and illustrations carry the visual humor, creating a situation that builds, and then unfolds, like the best of slapstick comedy. A tale well told.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2003

(3) 4-6 Because he asked for an expensive bike for his birthday, fourteen-year-old Joe Pedersen finds himself working to earn the money alongside the Mexican laborers on his dad's farm. Having found friends among them, Joe helps some illegal workers escape the INS. The situation of guest workers is naturally portrayed, and Joe's choices will win approval from sympathetic readers.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(3) K-3 Illustrated by R. W. Alley. A spunky girl living on an Iowa farm decides that there's been a mistake: "Someone . . . must have taken her from her satin-lined, jewel-encrusted royal crib and placed her in the quite ordinary crib of another, quite ordinary baby." She curls up with her beloved fairy-tale book and learns that a princess's life isn't all glamour and fun. Beguiling humor and comical illustrations make this an appealing read-aloud choice.

Reviewer: Jim St. Claire

(2) 4-6 Picking up where The Ghost of Fossil Glen leaves off, this book finds eleven-year-old "ghost magnet" Allie embroiled in another dangerously thrilling supernatural adventure. The ghost of a handsome, sad young man needs Allie's help to settle some unfinished business involving mean Mrs. Hobbs, the school's cafeteria manager, and a suspicious fire. This is a diverting and suspenseful ghost story with a romantic spark.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2001

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker. A wandering bagpiper tugs a handsome pair of boots off a corpse only to find the feet still in them. Willie uses the feet to play a trick on an uncharitable farmer and sees the worm turn when a foot-loose--er, -less--man comes to reclaim his standing. The twists from ghoulish to slapstick to spooky step lightly, and Parker's paintings have a rustic elegance that helps the story keep its shape.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2000

(3) 4-6 In this fast-paced sequel to Devil's Bridge, Ben discovers a car in the water off Martha's Vineyard and, later, the teenage driver's body. He also begins making deliveries for a charismatic older friend, but when he learns he's been delivering drugs--and that the drugs are related to the driver's death--Ben comes to his senses. Though the message is obvious, the novel is strong enough to overcome the moralizing.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(2) 4-6 Twelve-year-old Frances is jolted from her sheltered life by the suicide of her father in Depression-era Philadelphia. Frightened of living with an unknown aunt in Chicago, she snatches at the romantic notion of hopping a freight train and becoming a hobo. The theme of running away as a rite of passage plays out well, bringing Frances more painful loss but also courage and resolve as, in the end, she heads for Chicago and the prospect of a real home.

Reviewer: Margaret A. Bush | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 1999

(3) K-3 A crafty crow snitches Mama's shiny key ring, but daughter Emma outsmarts the big bird and retrieves the keys. Schindler's fetching colored-pencil illustrations on parchment paper achieve a subtle texture. A lively read-aloud, the rhymed story with its simple refrain holds a witty element of surprise at story's end.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(2) 4-6 In this tightly packed, swiftly moving mystery, sixth-grader Allie Nichols encounters the ghost of Lucy Stiles and becomes involved with Lucy's unsolved death, eventually finding proof that Lucy was murdered. The plot evolves logically, the villain hovers appropriately in the wings until his dramatic entrance, and everything is wrapped up neatly, but not predictably.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.