about the book
For the past three summers, Wyatt’s professor father has decided they need to get away from their frantic city lives and get unplugged from everything electrical. He takes Wyatt to a backwater little town in upstate New York. Eleven-year-old Wyatt loves it. He has little supervision and gets to spend time with his friend, Augie, who lives there year-round.
This year, Augie stole a pellet gun and is wreaking havoc on the crows and squirrels. They also bike, fish, and explore the woods. Wanting to spend nights sleeping out, the boys decide to build a fort. Materials are no problem. Augie’s Great-Unk Heindel Hinkle is pals with junkyard owner, Al, who lets them take wood from a demolished pink ice cream stand and tin for the roof. Hauling it far enough to be secretive, they spend weeks building a great fort, complete with one of Unk’s old girlie calendars.
One day they discover the fort ransacked. At first, they suspect Gerard, a townie loner with developmental disabilities. But the real culprits are J.R. and his pal Morrie, two thirteen-year-old jerky jocks who are the town’s worst bullies. The creeps have been preying on Gerard, too. They blamed him for an arson fire.
Wyatt and Augie have had enough! It is time to take these guys down! Together with a little help from Unk and Al, they concoct an ingenious plan. Operation Doom involves clever boobie traps, jars of honey, and one of Great Aunt Hildy’s nightgowns. Gerard helps out, too. He’s one super valuable ally. This will be a lesson the bullies won’t forget.
Be warned! This is not a story you’d turn in for a “what I did during my summer vacation” assignment. There are slingshots, pocket knives (and of course the pellet gun) as well as squirrel guts and gross maggots. But it’s an adventure every boy should have…at least once…if they live through it.
about the author
Cynthia DeFelice was born in 1951. Her father was a psychiatrist and a good listener, and her mother was an English teacher, who read to Cynthia and her siblings each night. Cynthia is sure that her mother is the reason she is a writer today.
Growing up, Cynthia and her siblings had nicknames for one another, based on funny or embarrassing incidents in which they had taken part. Her nicknames were DeDe or Bernice. Cynthia went by DeDe her whole life until she married her husband, Ralph DeFelice. “DeDe DeFelice” was ridiculous, so she began going by her real name again and it has stuck ever since.
It was in 1987 when Cynthia first began thinking about becoming an author. She was working as an elementary school librarian, and loved seeing the expression on children’s faces when they would read their favorite books. She decided she wanted to try to write books that would put that look on kids’ faces, too. Now, with 30 novels and picture books under her belt, she feels so grateful that she has succeeded in that goal.
Cynthia lives in Geneva, New York, with her husband Ralph. His nickname is Buzz, he‘s a dentist, and he looks like the actor George Clooney. They have a wonder dog, Gabby and two grown children and four grandchildren. The little tots love to read, too!
Sources:
Author website
Author biography : Scholastic
Author interview : Finger Lakes Times
Book trailer: Fort
Also by Cynthia DeFelice:
Wild Life. Farrar Straus Giroux. 2011.
Signal. Farrar, Straus, & Giroux. 2009.
The Ghost of Poplar Point (Ghost Mysteries). Farrar Straus Giroux. 2007.
The Missing Manatee. Farrar, Straus, & Giroux. 2005.
The Ghost of Cutler Creek (Ghost Mysteries). Farrar, Straus, & Giroux. 2004.
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