The Mystery of the Haunted Dance Hall

A charming, albeit slow, retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses that will appeal to middle grade students. While this is set in the 1960s, it could have honestly been set in modern times. There wasn't much that made you think this was set six decades prior. Young girls are at a sleepaway birding camp and newcomer Bee (short for Phoebe) teams up with social pariah, Zippy, to discover what the older girls are up to. There is a mystery with the Hawks (the 15 year olds), every morning their batteries are completely drained. Are they sneaking out? Where are they going? Bee and Zippy make a great pair; Bee has ultra sensitive hearing and Zippy is really good at seeing in the dark. Together they will be unstoppable, when their little duo gets busted by popular and bossy Felicity, things take an interesting turn. A fun adventurous read. The length may deter some younger readers though. 

The Dollhouse

Eerie and creepy this middle grade read will delight young readers. Alice's summer is not off to a great start. Instead of going to the cottage to kick off her summer break it looks like her parents will be getting a divorce. Her dad has blown them off again and her mom is over it. She packs off Alice and they hop on the train to journey several hours away for her mom to start a new job. An old woman needs a live in nurse and she resides in a big old house so there is plenty of room for Alice too. The house is old and spooky, but really magnificent - it looks as if the house is caught in time. When Alice is snooping around the house she discovers a hidden entrance to the attic in her bedroom and the only thing in the attic is a dollhouse that is the exact replica of the house. When she starts moving the dolls around weird things happen in her dreams and if she's not mistaken there is an extra doll in the dollhouse and it looks exactly like her. A little confusing towards the end, but it's a fun ghost story.