Books with author Cynthia De felice

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.Under the Same Sky is a 2004 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

A tribute to Florida, fishing, and familyAll Skeet Waters wants is to catch a big, beautiful tarpon on his fly rod - and to keep everything else in his life in Florida the way it's always been. But on his spring break from school, Skeet overhears his mother telling his father to move out permanently. Then, while riding in his boat to escape his parents' troubles, he discovers a manatee that's been shot in the head. Skeet puts aside his search for the manatee and its killer when Dirty Dan the Tarpon Man offers to take him out to catch his first tarpon on a fly. Because of Dan, Skeet begins tounravel the mysteries surrounding the manatee's apparent murder and his parents' dissolving marriage.Skeet discovers that life is a lot like tarpon fishing, in which you can't look just at the surface of the water - you have to look through it, at what lies beneath.The Missing Manatee is a nominee for the 2006 Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery

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.

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.

A Matter of Life or DeathIt's 1849, and twelve-year-old, Lucas Whitaker is all alone after his whole family dies of a disease called consumption which has swept through the community. Lucas is grief-stricken and filled with guilt. He might have saved his mother, who was the last to die, if only he had listened to news of a strange cure for this deadly disease.Unable to manage the family farm by himself, Lucas finds work as an apprentice to Doc Beecher, doctor, dentist, barber and undertaker. Doc amputates a leg as easily as he pulls a tooth, yet when it comes to consumption, he remains powerless, unwilling to try the cure he calls nonsense. Lucas can't accept Doc's disbelief, and he joins others in the dark ritual they believe is their only hope. The startling results teach Lucas a great deal about fear, desperation, and the scientific reasoning that offers hope for a true cure.The Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker is a 2008 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

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 over a 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.

Danger Stalks the SwamplandLostman's River is home to Tyler MacCauley and his family, just as it is to thousands of birds and other wildlife that share Nature's piece of the Earth.But greed and profit have brought great danger into the swampland. And when Tyler and his family dare to trust a stranger, they find out, to their horror, that they have jeopardized not only the land and all who live there, but their own future as well.

The second mystery solved by Allie Nichols, "ghost magnet", from author Cynthia DeFelice, author of The Ghost of Fossil GlenJust 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

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.This long-anticipated sequel to Weasel is a masterful adventure story, in which Nathan Fowler triumphs over the legacy of fear left him by the villain Weasel.Bringing Ezra Back is a 2007 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

The third book about Allie Nichols, "ghost magnet"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. This new book about Allie Nichols is another masterful novel of suspense by an author who consistently writes solid, entertaining stories.

The second mystery solved by Allie Nichols, "ghost magnet", from author Cynthia DeFelice, author ofThe Ghost of Fossil GlenJust 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

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.