Zillah K. MacDonald (1885–1979)

This old Scholastic paperback is another mixture of mystery and social/growing up issues. Yes, before you ask, I've forgotten the names of the characters in this one too and I already stuck the book in a donation box for the book sale.

The boy who is the main character lives in a remote Scottish (or maybe it was Scots-Canadian?) village and is sort of unofficially adopted by the village midwife/nurse. He never feels like he quite fits in with the kids his own age, especially after they say nasty things about his unknown mother, so he starts hanging around with the older boys and getting into trouble. Meanwhile, there's a mysterious ghost in the lake, a suspicious man wanting to open a mine everyone thought was played out, and a variety of characters, both trustworthy and suspicious, to fill out the mystery cast. In the end, the mystery is resolved and the main character has the opportunity to grow and change. The sudden revelations about his parents are unrealistically dramatic and amazing, but otherwise it's a satisfying story.

Verdict: Still not one of my favorites, but interesting and mildly amusing.

ISBN: N/A; Published 1973 by Scholastic; Received through Bookmooch… (más)