An excellent book! Short chapters about the biological happenings in and around a garden, yard, woodlot, etc. A good book to recommend to others or to give as a gift. Easy to understand, even for a total non-biologist, but not condescending to someone who knows something about the subject. Interesting, new, and informative.

I never thought I'd give two stars to a Lloyd Alexander story, but sadly this story is far below his usual fare. After reading the similar "Cat Who Wished To Be A Man" I expected excellence from this book. I was somewhat disappointed.

Mallory is a young girl who loves stories about magic and wizards and so forth; she also lives in a village ruled over by the repulsive Squire Scrupner, who is milking the people for money while masking it under faux benevolence. But when she notices an oddity about an old oak, she finds a real live -- and very cranky -- wizard inside!

Arbican was a powerful wizard who broke a certain law, and ended up sealed inside the tree. Thus, he hasn't been able to follow his fellow wizards across the sea, and his magic has gradually seeped away. Mallory agrees to keep Arbican a secret from her shrewish inkeeper and her spineless husband, and especially from Squire Scrupner.

But soon Arbican is revealed to the Squire--who uses him as a scapegoat for the death of the old squire. Mallory and Arbican end up in a perilous situation, with the squire determined to commit murder again.

It took me a while to understand why I disliked this book. Finally I figured out why: the story just lacks what we expect from Lloyd Alexander. With the greedy squire/mayor sapping money from the townsfolk, and the intervention of a magical being, it is similar in some respects to "Cat", but lacks what made that other book so appealing.

It lacks the supporting characters that Alexander does so well, and thus we get a rather stifling view of this invented land. His trademark humor and wit are rather underdone, as the only person with wit is Arbican and his seems to be a rather malicious one. Also, most of the characters other than Mallory are completely unsympathetic: The squire is detestable, so is the fawning woman that Mallory lives with, her husband is a first-order wimp, the farmer is a thief and child-abuser, his son is about the same, Arbican never apologizes for his snappishness or really does much at all, and only really shows much graciousness at the end.

The story gets two stars for being written in Lloyd Alexander's excellent style, and also for featuring the nice, fantasy-fed heroine Mallory.

Unfortunately Mallory cannot save this tale. I can only speculate that Alexander was experiencing a rather dreary view of humanity while writing this story, and scoot on to something else.

Well, compared to a several books by Lloyd Alexander, this book isnt nearly as interesting or fun as others. However, it's still a very good book and, as all Lloyd Alexanders, a great read with very cool characters.

In the story The Wizard in the Tree By Lloyd Alexander Mallory and a wizard named Arbacan experienced some terrifying adventures. If you like scary adventures, this is the book for you.
When Mallory finds Arbacan in the tree, Arbacan explains that he got put in the tree because Wizard are not supposed to fiddle with nature in the human world before they leave to Vale Innis. If they fiddled with the environment before they left they would be a part of whatever they fiddled with. When Mallory finds somewhere for Arbacan to stay, she goes and get food. When she brings the food back, Scrupnor the squire follows her. He chases Arbacan and Mallory for hours. Finally they get caught.
Will Mallory be forced to be Scrupnor's slave? Will Arbacan get beaten until he grants wishes for Scrupnor? Will Arbacan escape or not? Will Mallory escape? My favorite part is when Mallory and Arbacan have to sneak past all of Scrupnors guards. Will they sneak out without getting caught? They experience fabulous adventures until Arbacan has to leave to Vale Innis. Arbacan gives Mallory a magical gift before he leaves. What power does this gift has? Will Mallory be able to see Arbacan when she needs a friend? I encourage you to read The Wizard in the Tree.

The Haunted Mountain is a half-good, half-bad book. Mollie Hunter mixes ideas of Celtic mythology with children's dreams. This fantasy takes place in a small town in the north of Scotland during the Celtic times. This story is filled with mythological characters from fairies to urisks, which are half man half goat. This fantasy is about a stubborn farmer named Mc Allister. He promises himself that he will never give the fairies his traditional piece of land. Throughout the story the fairies have tried several attempts to kill him. They finally capture him and make him their slave. It is up to his brave son Fergus to save him. I was quite disappointed in this book because the reading level was quite low. The characters were unrealistic and it was more a fantasy book than a horror story. Personally I prefer horror stories to fantasies. If you like fantasies, castles, and romance, this is and ideal book. If you're more like me and love horror stories, I don't suggest this book.

The Haunted Mountain is the book I read. This book is about a man named MacAllister who owns many acres that the "Sid he" kept ruining. MacAllister marries a women named Peggy Anna and has a child name Fergus. Something really bad happens to MacAllister and someone has to save him! Read this book to find out what will happen. I thought this was a very good book. I would highly recommend this book.

I absolutely loathed this book out of all of the books in the series. It spends too much time jumping back and forth between the pioneers and the Native Americans! I did not like the setup at all, to the point where I would rather not buy this book, even if it completes my collection of American Girls Collection books. If you want a book that jumps around too much between two worlds and does not give a good idea of either world, feel free to pick it up. But there are plenty of other books out there on Pioneers and Native Americans, many of which probably make more sense!

Whether you are a fan of the American Girls Collection or not, this book is historically accurate and delightful. The story tracks Kirsten's family's journey from Sweeden to the New World using primary source documents like photographs, newspaper articles, letters, and artifacts. Gathered together like a museum exhibit, the information is layered so that readers of different ages and interest levels can engage in Kirsten's life on the prairie, where she lives in a sod dugout and interacts with the local Native Americans and settlers from all over the world. This is a great book for in the classroom or in the home!