The Secret Tree House Pact

For 9 to 13-year-old readers and their parents. Two 11-year-old boys, both social misfits and different from each other in most ways - one poor as dirt who hated school and one rich as a gold mine who loved it - chance upon each other and begin to form a friendship. As they work together to complete a tree house in the woods, they have wonderful talks about their lives, being eleven, their futures, parents, likes and dislikes and so forth. Ford, the rich kid, helps Jake realize that he's actually pretty smart, improve his grammar and vocabulary, and even enjoy learning new things. Jake helps remodel Ford from a socially awkward, stuck-up rich snob - he didn't know he was one - into a more acceptable and likeable kid. And, oh yes, there's the bobcat that takes up residence in the tree house, a broken bone or two, that near drowning in the creek, and, well, other things. Lots of talk. Lots of excitement. Lots of fun.