Eleven-year-old Matt comes face to face with his town's haunted past Matthew Hamilton-a.k.a. the Hamster-and his family recently moved to Timber City. More of a loner than his older brother and sister, Matt gets lost when he wanders away from the town's annual July Fourth picnic into nearby Rathburn Park. He is rescued by a white mutt with shaggy hair and pointed ears. Matt follows him into a clearing, but the dog vanishes. According to legend, Rathburn Park is haunted. Weirded out by his experience but unable to stay away, Matt returns to the ruins. In a burned-out church, a girl in a hat and old-fashioned ruffled dress appears. She warns him to leave if he wants to stay alive. Her name is Amelia Rathburn. But when Matt looks her up, he discovers that she is one hundred years old. Is Amelia a ghost from the past? Or someone a lot more human? The truth is stranger than Matt could ever imagine. This ebook features an extended biography of Zilpha Keatley Snyder.
"Veteran novelist Snyder offers up a contemporary mystery . . . satisfying for its wonderfully delineated cast. . . . Her gifts for fashioning lifelike and sympathetic characters are as pronounced as ever, as is her understanding of family dynamics. The payoff here is the storytelling itself."
Publishers Weekly
"This skillfully told story is full of both history and middle-grade concerns about peer pressure and acceptance."
School Library Journal
"A satisfying read for those who like some character development along with their not-too-scary ghost stories."
