The Boarded-Up House

Two houses stand on the same street, but only one holds a mystery that has waited years to be solved. Cynthia Sprague and Joyce Kenway have spent their childhoods gazing at the ancient Colonial with its round windows like watchful eyes, wondering why it stands empty, why no one will explain its past. When Joyce's cat Goliath disappears through a broken board, the girls make a choice that will change everything: they follow him into the dark. What they find inside dusty dining rooms and behind locked doors is a message left by another era, a secret tied to the Civil War and a family that vanished without explanation. Augusta Huiell Seaman writes with the kind of gentle suspense that makes bedtime延 longer and flashlight-under-the-covers unavoidable. This is adventure stripped to its purest form: two girls, a house full of shadows, and a mystery older than their grandparents. Perfect for readers who have outgrown easy answers but still believe that curiosity is a kind of courage.