The Ghost in the Tree House

The Haunted Library #7

by Dori Hillestad Butler, Aurore Damant (Illustrations)

Here is Edgar Award Winner Dori Hillestad Butler's seventh title in her not-too-scary chapter book mystery series, The Haunted Library. Perfect for reluctant readers in the mood for a great mystery!

A group of girls in Claire’s town have noticed strange sights and sounds coming from the tree house where their club meets. Is it a rival boys’ club trying to scare them away? Or is it a ghost? The girls ask Claire to tackle the mystery—and Kaz hopes to finally find the rest of his missing family members!

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Childrens, Ghosts, Middle Grade, Paranormal, Friendship

128 pages, Paperback

First published March 29, 2016

About the author

Dori Hillestad Butler is an American author of more than 40 children's books, as well as magazine stories, plays and educational materials. Her first book, The Great Tooth Fairy Rip-Off, was published in 1997. She is known particularly for The Truth about Truman School, a 2008 young adult title focusing on the subject of cyber bullying, and for My Mom's Having a Baby (illustrated by Carol Thompson), which in 2011 appeared on the American Library Association's list of most commonly challenged books in the United States for its portrayal of conception and childbirth. Her 2010 mystery title, Buddy Files: Case of the Last Boy, won the 2011 Edgar Award for the best juvenile mystery published in 2010. Before becoming a children's author, Butler worked for three years as a page at a library.

Reviews

[Stephanie (Reading is Better With Cupcakes) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again. This series is just too much fun and it makes you want to keep going!

[Chloe (Always Booked) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love these books and I am so excited they finally found their mom!!!! In this book, C&K Ghost Detectives are called to a friends house to find a ghost in a tree house and they find another bead from the mom's necklace. They eventually find her in the house next door so now the mom, dad, Kaz, Little John and Cosmo are all together. We know where the grandma and grandpa are so now were just trying to find the last brother. They thought there was another ghost in the treehouse but it ended up being a human kid who was looking for a treasure that Kaz helped him find. Love these books. I cant wait to see what happens in the last 3.

[Catarina · Rating 3 out of 5]

KAZ’S DAD IS ANNOYING!!!!!!!!!! I’m sorry your children were living without you and now you’re questioning their choices??? I am HEATED. Of course I’ll finish the series because Elise made up for Kaz’s awful dad!!!!!!

[Kim Hampton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm reading this series with my 7 year old daughter,and we both really like it. They all end on cliffhangers, so be sure you have access to all of them!

[Jane Maple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Claire, Kaz and little John go to investigate a haunted tree house. Upon arriving at the girl’s house the boys meet their dad who is horrified that they have made friends with a solid girl. It is revealed that all 3 have beads from Kaz’s mother’s necklace. While Kaz’s father reluctantly goes in Clair’s water bottle to check out the library, he forbids the boys from going back to the library. They stay in the girl’s house trying to investigate lights coming from the tree house that evening, by expanding and holding hands to try to get across the yard to the treehouse (they can’t reach it). The next day they notice Kaz’s mom in a neighbor’s window and she and his dad communicate using morse code. (The book even provides a morse code table). The boys and their dad are trying to figure out how to get to her when a boy shows up with his cars in a red case and Kaz’s mom is in there too. After the family reunion Claire returns to spend the night in the treehouse where it is revealed that the “ghost” was actually boys on a treasure hunt. Kaz notices the treasure in a tree branch and alerts Claire. When they all go back to the library the book ends by letting us know that Kaz mom and beckett know each other and Kaz’s mom apparently doesn’t like him.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This time the C & K Ghost Detective agency really does find a ghost or two. Kaz finds his dad and mom to reunite this part of the family.

[Sarah - All The Book Blog Names Are Taken]

Eleanor says: I like how the book ended. Beckett and Kaz’s mom knew each other. But we don’t know how yet.

[Jonathan Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic series of kids’ books. Just finished this one (#7) and my 6-yr old son and I both agree — it’s the best yet! The ghosts aren’t scary at all. Each book has a new mystery; very engaging.

[Kristin Zwada · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE BEST!!!

It’s the best!!!!! You have to read this book! READ IT! READ IT! READ IT! READ IT! READ IT! READ IT!

[Blančitos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tato série o Strašidelné knihovně mě neskutečně baví. Navíc super je i překlad od češtiny, kdy je vidět, že překladatel si s textem neskutečně pohrál.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kaz and Claire set out to solve another mystery, this time a supposed ghost in a tree house. Kaz and Little John are hoping that maybe this ghost will be another member of their family, who they are still trying to find. But like most mysteries it turns out to be more complicated than that. Are the girls who use the tree house as a clubhouse imagining things or are the neighborhood boys just playing tricks? It's up to Kaz and Little John to find the answers when they get left behind after finding their father who refusing to believe that that can be friends with Claire, a solid girl. Another bead found suggests the boys' mother might be around, but is she the one haunting the tree house or is there another explanation.

I enjoy this series not only because of the readability of it but the creative way that Butler has merged the solving of mysteries with Kaz's development of his ghosting abilities. The series develops naturally and each mystery is interesting with each mystery solved in a believable way. I also love the fact that Kaz and Claire work from the local library. This is a fun mystery series for young chapter book readers who like a story with a touch of the supernatural. This series will be ending with the 8th book which makes for a nice number of stories.

[Elfeeza Ehsan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book to bits. It was really nice to come back to this world although because I couldn't get my hands on the 6th book in this series I've missed out on certain information but not be that it too disruptive that I cannot enjoy reading this one. This book is more centred around the ghostly characters which are Kaz and his younger brother Little John and not so much about Claire and her family. I guess that part of the development was taken care of in book number 6. Which is a bummer because I really wanted to know how Claire's mother came to terms with Claire seeing ghosts. But no matter. This book is fun still and Kaz and Little John met up with more family members through their ghostly case and I'm so happy! 5 stars and a recommendation to my students.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have the set, but happened to grab this one to read first, so I can't compare it to the others yet. I don't feel like I missed anything but not reading them in order, but we'll see. The 'haunted library' was not the focus of the story, so I wonder about that.
I love the idea of humans being 'solids'!
A quick read for experienced young readers with its short chapters, small pages and large font with lots of space, but the multitude of characters kept me re-reading to keep them straight. Most pages have a small, black & white illustration which also breaks up long expanses of text

[Phino DeLeon]

Man oh man, I can't wait to get to the last book in this series. Very imaginative, and fun to read. Anxious to see how the team pulls it all together and to see where the story goes from here.

[Heather Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

megan summer reading 2016, children's book, chapter book, series, the haunted library, ghosts, friends, family, tree house, mystery,

[Kelly Carey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kaz finds more of his ghost family, and they work together to conquer the outside world and wind while they try to locate Mom.

[Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book