Mystery in the Jackson House, Number 1 in The Triple Dog Dare Series, by Judy Sheer Watters (Independent Publishers, 2021, 162 pages, $14.99)
Remember what it was like to be an eighth-grader going into ninth grade at the end of the school year and the beginning of a long hot summer? (but The Jackson House does not have young love or even a girl at all! Nevertheless, girls, too, will devour this book.)
Or maybe your son is that age and what if the class bully starts picking on him and dares him to spend a night in the old haunted house that nobody has lived in for 50 years? And what if he double dares the bully to and the bully triple dares your son to keep it a secret?
Long years ago, I remember that kids could sleep out in their backyards and be gone with their bikes and buddies all day, exploring town and the fields around the farms - as long as they took a sandwich with them.
The Jackson House starts slowly but builds to a crescendo that will make young readers stay up all night to finish it. How a woman author could write so realistically about young teen boys is a wonder, but she does so and with aplomb!
From Bully to Bestie?
Of course, the whole bully thing sort of makes sense but can a bully really change so quickly? This bully can and becomes besties with our young hero.
Throw in some lies (mostly white), a little bit of church, a father's stroke, grandparents who come to live, a brother who gets into trouble with the law, a dog and a little brother, hundreds of comic books, and. . . you'll never guess what the treasure is!
Our whole family can't wait for the second book in the series!
