Karen Scott (Library Media Connection, April/May 2006)
When Josh moves in with his eccentric aunt for the summer he is very unhappy since Aunt Ethel has no television and no Internet. The first night, however, seems to set the stage for things to come. Aunt Ethel shoots down a bat that is flying in her kitchen. The next morning Josh wakes up to a peacock on the front porch. Aunt Ethel tells Josh the peacock is his Aunt Florence, her dead sister. Just when Josh thinks things can't get any weirder, Aunt Ethel tells Josh about a tree house back in the woods which Florence thought was haunted. Josh finds the tree house, and there meets a friendly ghost named Willie who is waiting to become an angel. Willie and Josh become friends and he asks Josh to dig up his missing leg from its grave. When Josh digs up the leg bones he finds a box of money. Mr. Turlep, the bank manager, had stolen the money and buried it. The first month of the summer ends on a positive note. Josh makes a new friend in Willie, is allowed to keep a stray cat, and returns the money to its rightful owners. Young readers will revel in Josh's wacky adventures. This is a good read for those who love humor with a hint of the supernatural. Recommended. 2005, Dutton Children's Books (Penguin Putnam), 210pp., $16.99 hc. Ages 9 to 12.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2005 (Vol. 73, No. 13))
Twelve-year-old Josh expected his summer with an elderly relative in Carbon City, Wash. to be utterly boring. However, his aunt turns out to be amusingly eccentric, and a secluded tree house in the woods is a perfect place to read and watch deer. There he encounters the ghost of a one-legged coal miner, Willy Martin. Willie asks him to dig up his lost leg and bury it with the rest of his body. Surprisingly, Josh agrees, but he finds more than just leg bones; the man who stole the money the town had raised for an animal shelter had hidden it in the leg's uncared-for grave. Josh's first-person narrative literally opens with a bang, as Aunt Ethel shoots a bat in her kitchen his first night there. The action moves quickly to the suspenseful moment when the robber, seeking to retrieve his treasure, threatens Josh at gunpoint. A subplot involving taming an abandoned cat may add interest for animal lovers. Easy to booktalk, this is a solidly plotted ghost story for middle-grade readers. 2005, Dutton, 192p, $16.99. Category: Fiction. Ages 9 to 12.