Cynthia C. DeFelice Books in Order

Eleven-year-old Callie befriends an elderly calligrapher who records their town's milestones. Discovering that their writing can predict future events, the pair face the temptations and painful consequences of trying to change fate.

An ill-tempered dead man refuses to remain in his coffin. When a fiddler visits the man's widow, the restless husband causes trouble in a comic tale of music, jealousy and a stubborn skeleton.

On the frontier, a violent man once employed to drive away Native Americans begins terrorizing settlers. Young Nathan fears for his family and struggles with whether to wait for the law or confront the threat himself.

During a visit to the country, Maggie explores the natural world with her grandfather. Summer hailstones, dancing mayflies and a wren's carefully built nest reveal small wonders that transform their time together.

Eleven-year-old Hadley ignores warnings to stay away from the woman living on a supposedly haunted hill. Her growing friendship reveals unexpected joys and responsibilities, while a neighbor appears to know more than he admits.

Thirteen-year-old Ben overhears two men planning to cheat in a fishing contest off Martha's Vineyard. Determined to expose their scheme, he sets out to uncover the fraud before they claim the prize.

Tyler and his family live among the birds and wildlife of Lostman's River. When they trust a stranger, they discover that greed threatens both the swampland they love and their own future there.

A city dweller buys a farm and becomes the target of a practical joke. His apparent inexperience makes him easy to deceive, but the new farmer finds a way to turn the trick back on its maker.

A king promises his daughter's hand to whoever can bring him three flawless peaches. This illustrated retelling follows the unusual challenge at the heart of a French folktale about earning a royal reward.

Casey hates baths until a salesman offers his mother a bottle of mysterious green soap. The bubbles produce tiny playful creatures, turning the chore into an adventure that ends when the bottle runs dry.

After consumption kills his family in 1849, Lucas becomes a doctor's apprentice. Grief and guilt draw him toward a supposed folk cure, putting his desperation into conflict with the doctor's commitment to scientific reasoning.

Willy dismisses his grandmother's warnings and superstitions as foolish. A nighttime trip near the Big Swamp tests his confidence and makes him reconsider whether her strange advice might contain some wisdom.

A crow searching for shiny objects steals Emma's mother's keys to decorate its nest. Emma sets out to recover them, pitting her own ingenuity against a bird with a talent for mischief.

A mysterious voice helps Allie escape danger, then visions of a dead girl begin haunting her. With her friend Dub, she investigates what the spirit wants and discovers a murder that demands answers.

Orphaned during the Great Depression, Frances disguises herself as a boy and rides freight trains west. A young traveler teaches her how to survive, but freedom on the rails carries costs she did not expect.

A wandering bagpiper steals a dead man's boots and uses them to trick an unfriendly farmer. His scheme takes an unexpected turn when the same trick rebounds on him in this comic folktale.

Working aboard a charter boat, Ben spots a submerged sports car whose driver is missing. His admiration for an older local boy draws him into theft, drugs and a possible murder, testing his loyalty and judgment.

A new ghost directs Allie's attention toward her school's unsettling cafeteria worker. When unexplained fires accompany her investigation, Allie must determine what the spirit is trying to reveal and whether she is in danger.

Dulcie decides she is a princess living with the wrong family and turns the barn into her royal palace. Reading fairy tales while waiting for her true life makes her reconsider what she already has.

A lonely grandmother discovers that someone is stealing her beans. On her way to seek help, she befriends an unlikely group of talking creatures who join forces to outwit the thief.

Joe joins the migrant crew on his father's farm to earn money for a motorbike. Hard work, resentment and new relationships challenge his assumptions about the Mexican workers and the difficulties they face.

Allie senses a ghost that communicates through whines and smells rather than words. Caring for her teacher's dog and befriending an unhappy new classmate reveal connections that may help her understand the restless spirit.

Skeet's parents are separating when he discovers a manatee that appears to have been shot. A fishing trip with a local expert draws him toward answers about both the animal and his changing family.

Nathan recognizes his injured friend Ezra in an advertisement for a traveling sideshow. Setting out from Ohio to Pennsylvania with a peddler, he discovers that bringing Ezra home will require more than simply finding him.

An impoverished couple discovers a pot that doubles whatever they put inside. Their new good fortune solves material problems, but their wish for friendship creates a different question about what the pot can provide.

A spirit disrupts Allie's rehearsals for a town pageant about European settlers and the Seneca people. She and Dub investigate its message, uncovering a suppressed history that challenges the story their community plans to tell.

Lonely after his mother's death and a move, Owen befriends an injured girl who claims to come from another planet. Helping her signal home forces him to consider whether he wants to leave Earth himself.

Sent to unfamiliar grandparents while his parents serve in Iraq, Erik rescues a dog he is forbidden to keep. Running away with her onto the prairie tests his survival skills and exposes painful family secrets.

Nelly May becomes a housekeeper to help support her large family. Her employer insists she use his elaborate invented language, but an emergency reveals the limits of her patience with his absurd demands.

Wyatt and Augie spend an idyllic summer in a fort they built in the woods. When older boys threaten their refuge and bully another child, the friends devise a retaliation whose consequences they cannot predict.