Reviewers call this book the
"right mix between chilling and thrilling"

The subtitle of Mary Downing Hahns's "The Old Willis Place" is "a ghost story." If you like ghost stories where kids are the ghosts - kids who have died a horrible death, this is a book for you. If you don't think you can handle such a story, stay away form this book.

When the story starts, Diana and her little brother Georgie are living in the area around an old mansion, called the "Old Willis Place." We find out that the two kids are sleeping in a broken down shed on the property. We are told that the kids have rules that govern what they can do. They are not to go into the old house. We are told that the kids fear that mean old Mrs. Willis might escape from the house and come after them. We are left to wonder why the kids can't ever leave the Willis property, and we are puzzled about how the kids stay alive by themselves - what do they find to eat, for example?

At the beginning of the story, a new caretaker and his daughter, Lisa, arrive to live in the old trailer on the property. Diana and Georgie in the past had done all they could to scare off previous caretakers by making ghostly noises at night around the trailer. They had been successful because none of these lazy and drunken older men had stayed very long - they had been spooked by what they thought were ghosts. The new caretaker was clearly younger and more conscientious. He didn't believe in ghosts and thought the old tales were silly. Besides, he had a young daughter about the same age as Diana. Diana was lonely and had never had a friend. Could Lisa, the new girl, become her friend?

Well, it happens. Almost by accident Lisa sees Diana and forces her to come out of hiding and talk a little about who she is. The two lonely girls start to hang out together. Georgie is angry and screams at Diana that she is "breaking the rules" by talking to anyone but him. Another strange thing is that Diana never seems to be able to drink the lemonade or the hot cocoa she is offered when she visits with Lisa and her father. She always runs off when she is offered a snack or a meal. Just what is going on?

As readers, we begin to suspect that Diana and Georgie may be ghosts, well before the facts about their early lives are disclosed to us. But what about mean old Mrs. Willis? Is she a ghost also or just a figment of the kids' imaginations? As the truth unfolds, readers find out that the facts are not very pleasant at all. Is it even possible for such a story to have a "happy ending?" You have to read the book if you want to find out.

A girl disguises herself as a jockey
to track down horserace cheaters

If you like short books and funny ones, this is a book you might like. Harriet Bean is a girl with a number of strange aunts. Two of them are Aunt Japonica and Aunt Thessalonika. You know from their names, these two women have to be different. They are women with a lot of curiosity and who can read what is going on in other people's minds. So it seems only natural that they operate a detective agency.

The two aunts had a case to solve that they wanted Harriet to help them out with. They had been asked to track down whoever it was that was cheating at the racetrack. Somebody was doing something to the fast horses so that they weren't winning races anymore. The aunts were masters of disguise, but they were too old and fat to disguise themselves as jockeys. That's where Harriet came in. She was to dress as a jockey and hang around the racetrack. She was to tell her aunts if she found anything suspicious.

The worst thing that could happen to Harriet would be if she was asked to ride a race horse. All she had ever ridden before were kids' ponies. And race horses were so big and so temperamental. Well, you know in a book like this that is meant to be funny, poor Harriet is going to end up on a race horse. Luckily, though, with help from her strange aunts, Harriet manages to catch the chief crook in the act and stop the racetrack cheating. To find out how she does it, you need to read "Harriet Bean and the League of Cheats"

A girl who loves cats volunteers
to work in a veterinary clinic

Sunita Patel and some of her middle school-aged friends are volunteer workers at Dr. Mac's Place. Dr. Mac is what the kids call Dr. J. J. MacKenzie, the veterinarian who runs the animal clinic. Sunita wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up. She would love to have a cat or cats at home, but her parents, especially her mother, won't let her have any pets. She feels lucky that her mother will let her volunteer at the animal clinic.

A big cat named Socrates is the only permanent pet at the clinic. The twenty pound yellow-stripped cat is aloof and normally won't make up with people. But Socrates likes Sunita and always runs to her when she arrives at the clinic. So Sunita is especially upset when Socrates gets into a fight with another cat in the yard outside the clinic. He runs after the strange cat and disappears. The kids go looking for him but are unable to find him.

While looking for Socrates the kids find a large number of stray cats around the old abandoned factory in the town. The kids find out that most of these cats are probably "feral" cats. This means that the cats have been born in the wild and have never lived with people before. They are next to impossible to tame and willing to become pets. People often fear the feral cats and want them destroyed by Animal Control. These people believe these cats are likely to carry rabies and transmit that disease to people.

Sunita finds that in some cities, feral cats are captured and neutered and given vaccinations against diseases. Then they are returned to the wild to live out their lives. Sunita hopes to get her town to try that approach with the cats at the old factory, rather than trap them to kill. While she and her friends are trying to help the feral cats, they are hoping to find Socrates. And, of course, Sunita is still hoping to convince her mother to let her have a cat as a pet at home. To find out how it all turns out, you need to read "Homeless," a title in the series of books called "The Vet Volunteers," by Laurie Halse Anderson.