2021 Bronze Medal IPPY Awards Winner for Juvenile Fiction!

Four middle school boys, interested in the local legends surrounding a small 1950s North Dakota community, embark on an ambitious plan to get to the bottom of the unsettling stories. Local, Scandinavian, and Native American legends blend creating confusion about disturbing scenes witnessed by folks in the aspen forests. The boys find trouble after pursuing answers from young Chippewa boys from a nearby reservation. The boys still manage to seek answers despite their punishment. An old Chippewa man, and others, add clarity to the legends and eye-witness accounts of a lost little girl.

The boys decide to help the old Chippewa man find his boyhood home in the aspen forest. They also learn of buried money and other links to the legend. They get what they are asking for and maybe more. The boys discover a huge truth in their endeavors, but bragging rights must be abandoned for the protection of a few.