The Girl of Spirit Creek - Paperback

Twelve-year-old Peregrine's summer is off to a terrible start. Not only has her mother dragged her seven hundred miles from her home in Santa Cruz to help care for her ailing grandmother, but upon arriving, she meets a strange boy named JJ who is mean to her dog. Then, while working in the forest behind the house, she hears a little girl singing. It isn't a pretty song, but a creepy one about being hit and kicked. And then there are the glowing eyes staring at her from the tangled blackberry canes.

But the summer isn't all bad. Peregrine eventually becomes friends with JJ and spends time talking with him on a bridge that spans the creek running through the forest. She also befriends Maddy, the girl from down the street, who may not be as perfect as Peregrine fears.

Together, these three unlikely friends must solve the mysteries that keep popping up around the stream that Maddy christens Spirit Creek.