Oren Bell's best friend Fred Lighthouse is murdered and Oren and a local gang member, Goon Eye, team together to try to find out who murdered Oren's best friend. In honor of Fred Oren builds a community ballpark called Fred Lighthouse Memorial Field. Later in the book Oren finds a much-needed clue at Mama and Jack's wedding. I did not really like this book all that much, so I gave it 3 ½ stars out of 10. The reason I liked the book was because it involved a murder. Murders, crimes, and the investigation leading up to the finding of who committed the crime intrigues me. The reason I did not like this book was because I did not like the way the investigation took place, it involved teenagers performing their own investigation after the police gave up on the murder case. I don't know about you but, I think teenagers investigating a murder seems pretty corny to me and to add the cherry on top, they find out who the murderer was. This book does not compare to any others because I have never read a book as horrible as this one.

This is the critique of my book. I give my book four stars. Although it was kind of hard to follow. I liked this book. It had all sorts of different problems and interesting things. This book is unique in my opinion. I think you should read this book. It is a pretty good book all around. To me the best part in the book was when the Goon eye revealed who killed Fred. This book makes a great book for book reports and to read for the fun of it! So if you are looking for a good read then read this book.

A Murder Unsolved

This book was great to read. It starts off in an inner - city Detroit, Michigan neighborhood. Oren and his friends are going to play "Taps" to commemorate their friend's death in the opening of Fred Field. But that's not enough for Oren. He is upset that he will never know how his friend died that one night in the crack - house next door. So he and his friends go around asking people who they thought knew what happened to Fred Lightfoot that night he was killed. This goes on for a while until a member from a rival gang named Skyler who was also known as the Goon Eye confesses to them he saw the murder occur. Next the gang plots out how to convince the murderer's wife that Tony had killed Fred. You will have to read the book to find out what had happens next. I thought Barbara Hood Burgess explained how the inner - city group of kids can do if they put their minds to it. I would give this book six wonderful stars out of five. The reason why I said that is that is was difficult to set the book down after reading sections at a time. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes a good mystery.

Oren is in the 7th grade and does not do well in school. He has two sisters who are bright students and out shine him in all subjects until Oren finds the secret to ridding their house of a ghost. His history project leads him to treasure left behind by the ghost. This is Oren's year to shine.