THE SUMMER OF THE BONEPILE MONSTER ...

THE SUMMER OF THE BONEPILE MONSTER by Aileen Kilgore Hnederson, illustrated by Kim David Cooper (Milkweed: $6.95; 148 pp., paperback original). Hollis Orr, the 11-year-old hero of this prize-winning juvenile novel, is sent to spend the summer with his great-grandmother in rural Alabama while his parents attempt to reconcile their differences. Beneath its boring surface, the tiny town of Dolliver conceals a dark mystery that forces the great-grandmother and her neighbors to live in fear. Hollis uncovers the secret as he learns about himself and the nature of friendship.