Books with author Cynthia DeFelice

Ever since she and her mother moved to Possum Hollow, eleven-year-old Hadley Patterson has been fascinated - and frightened - by the light on Hogback Hill. Rumor has it that a terrifying old woman, a hunchbacked hag, lives there. And while Hadley lies awake at night, alone in the house because her mother is always working, thoughts of the old woman fill her imagination. Then a new boy arrives in town and becomes Hadley's friend. Soon Josh Carter is also wondering about the hag, and about Angus Tull, the weird man who warns children to stay away from Hogback Hill. But wondering is not enough for Josh - or for Hadley any longer. Together Hadley and Josh embark on an adventure that takes them to the top of Hogback Hill, and beyond.

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. In this boys-will-be-boys summer story about friendship and revenge, eleven-year-old Wyatt and his friend Augie aren't looking for a fight. They're having the best summer of their lives hanging out in the fort they built in the woods, fishing and hunting, cooking overa campfire, and sleeping out. But when two older boys mess with the fort-and with another kid who can't fight back-the friends are forced to launch Operation Doom, with unexpected results for all concerned, in this novel about two funny and very real young heroes.

A teenager discovers racism and romance on his father's farmFor his fourteenth birthday, Joe Pedersen wants a motorbike that costs nearly a thousand dollars. But his mom says the usual birthday gift is fifty dollars, and his dad wants Joe to earn the rest of the money himself and "find out what a real day's work feels like." Angry that his father doesn't think he's up to the job, Joe joins the Mexican laborers who come to his father's farm each summer. Manuel, the crew boss, is only sixteen, yet highly regarded by the other workers and the Pedersen family. Joe's resentment grows when his father treats Manuel as an equal. Compared with Manuel, Joe knows nothing about planting and hoeing cabbage and picking strawberries. But he toughs out the long, grueling days in the hot sun, determined not only to make money but to gain the respect of his stern, hardworking father. Joe soon learns about the problems and fears the Mexicans live with every day, and, before long, thanks to Manuel, his beautiful cousin Luisa, and the rest of the crew, Joe comes to see the world in a whole different way.In her sensitive new novel, Cynthia DeFelice explores our dependency on migrant workers and simultaneous reluctance to let these people into our country and into our lives.

An ALA Best Book Her friend Dub must be right: Allie Nichols is a "ghost magnet." She 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. Allie is baffled - until she figures out why the ghost showed up. Available only in The Literacy Bridge 5.

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?

Is Allie being haunted -- again?Just a few short weeks ago, Allie encountered her first ghost, the spirit of a murdered girl. Now another ghost has entered Allie's life! The ghost points Allie in the direction of Mrs. Hobbs, the scary cafeteria lady. Did Mrs. Hobbs have anything to do with the death of the ghost? Allie's life suddenly becomes complicated, with mysterious fires breaking out wherever she turns. Her best friend is mad at her, and soon she is in danger, along with her little brother -- but from whom?

While fossil hunting, Allie comes close to falling off a dangerous cliff. An unknown voice keeps her calm and talks her to a safer position. Allie senses that someone or something is trying to contact her and the discovery of a grave marker and a journal pique her curiosity. Because Allie's family and friends know she exaggerates, only her close friend Dub believes her. They follow a path leading to the grave of a young girl killed almost four years earlier. Allie's attempt to investigate Lucy Stiles's death puts her own life in jeopardy with a greedy land developer.

Allie Nichols, "Ghost Magnet," has only just finished sixth grade, but already she's grappled with her fair share of adventure: three ghosts have sought her help in less than two months. Now that summer has finally arrived, Allie is ready for a break. Too bad ghosts don't know about summer vacation. When a new spirit causes Allie to babble incomprehensibly at rehearsals for her town's first pageant, she and her best friend, Dub, know they have another ghostly mystery to solve. But why does the ghost seem so interested in the pageant, which portrays the relationship between the area's early European settlers and the local Seneca Indians? And could its manifestation have anything to do with the rich girl who just came to town with her family? In the fourth fascinating ghost book by Cynthia DeFelice, Allie and Dub uncover a centuries-old secret--the destruction of a Seneca village at Poplar Point--and come up with a plan to share it.