Books with author David Mraz

Sheppard’s Inn was a quiet senior-living facility where people spent the remainder of their golden years relaxing as they socialized, watched television, played checkers, or read a good book. Some of the young at heart spent their time reminiscing about “the good old days.” Others would just lie in soft, comfortable chairs dreaming of the future when they would join their spouses who had passed over to a place of peace, tranquility, and painless existence.All things were good at Sheppard’s Inn until everything began to change. At first, the events were subtle. The building’s heater struggled to keep up with the sudden chills that passed through the hallways. A sickening smell would seep through every nook and cranny. The lights would flicker off and on, and the televisions would go blank. But nothing was worse than the screeching sounds heard during the night—sounds not normally created in the world of the living!Adam Simmons, his father (a former police detective), and his mother (a high school drama teacher) were trying to live under the radar. They had been forced to disappear from Huntingdon Valley because of the arrest of Philadelphia’s biggest mobster. They’d had no idea what would happen when they secured jobs at Sheppard’s Inn. They certainly weren’t expecting something even more sinister and dangerous than the mob. Strange, supernatural events shook their beliefs. Items were disappearing, and people were getting sick.Adam had to push back his fears and help his parents solve this dilemma before someone got seriously hurt. If there was a ghost haunting Sheppard’s Inn, Adam would do whatever it took to expose it. Once again, he would prove that everything is not always as it seems.

Roused from his sleep, fourteen-year-old Adam Simmons is forced into a nightmare of reality. Without explanation, his father hastily packs a bag with the bare essentials and demands that Adam leave immediately through his bedroom window. Glancing back to see his father waving goodbye, Adam watches as his house suddenly explodes, apparently killing his parents. Instantaneously, Adam’s world ceases to exist. With his hockey bag and a face full of tears, he must continue his journey into this nightmare. Armed only with his ingenuity, Adam searches for answers. Discovering that he is being stalked by some very dangerous people, Adam becomes desperate and seeks the assistance of his closest friends, which proves to be disastrous: one by one, they are kidnapped. Feeling responsible, Adam persists through the arduous tasks of finding his friends and solving the puzzle that has become his life. With the aid of some odd newfound acquaintances and using skills he never knew he possessed, Adam learns that even nightmares can have a happy ending—and, yes, there is a Santa Claus!

In this simple tale of a boy and his beloved railroader uncle, the old and young regard each other mirrored through the prism of time. The other-worldly quality of Casey Mraz’s illustrations transport us into a rarefied atmosphere, a kind of fairy-land, where simple, everyday things--a train whistle, the clanging of a school-bell, work-boots clomping on the stairs--become imbued with a timeless dimension of magic.See the Spanish-language version of this story--“Como el tío Daniel!”