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33rd out of 137 books
—
675 voters
The Secret Tree
by
Natalie Standiford (Goodreads Author)
A sweet story of a tree that's literally filled with secrets.
What is your secret?
Minty's neighborhood is full of mysteries. There's the Witch House, a spooky old farmhouse on the other side of woods from where Minty and her best friend, Paz, live. There's the Man Bat, a seven-foot-tall half man, half bat who is rumored to fly through the woods. And there are the Mean Boys,...more
What is your secret?
Minty's neighborhood is full of mysteries. There's the Witch House, a spooky old farmhouse on the other side of woods from where Minty and her best friend, Paz, live. There's the Man Bat, a seven-foot-tall half man, half bat who is rumored to fly through the woods. And there are the Mean Boys,...more
Hardcover, 256 pages
Published
May 1st 2012
by Scholastic Press
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Minty and her friend Paz are wild about the roller derby, and are busy practicing their routine for the local Fourth of July parade. Summer is filled with all sorts of other activities, too-- staying away from the Mean Boys who give them a hard time, getting away from Paz's annoying little sister Lennie, and figuring out the mysteries of the Witch House and the Man-Bat, as well as the mystery of who put a curse on Paz. Minty gets some clues when she finds a tree in the woods where people in the...more
In the book, The Secret Tree by Natalie Standiford it's the summer before sixth grade for Minty and she is curious about all the mysteries in her neighborhood, the Witch House, the Man-Bat, and Crazy Ike's story to name a few. Why is her older sister, Thea, acting crazy, why is her best friend in all the world, Paz, hanging out with new friends, what makes the mean boys so mean, and who is the strange new boy who is hanging around in the woods taking pictures. When Mindy discovers a big, old tre...more
This book feels very true, very real-to-life. It is a perfect description of all of the little battles of growing up. Araminta (Minty) will be eleven at the end of the summer, and will begin middle school in the fall. In the meantime, however, she has to work through maturing at a different rate than her childhood best friend, making a new trusted friend, trying to solve neighborhood mysteries, and life with an irritable older sister. She becomes a sort of neighborhood spy, using secrets written...more
"They all have their secrets, I thought. Each person's real life is a mystery.
The fireworks exploded, commemorating a war for independence, while all around me people fought their private battles. Even the Mean Boys. Sister versus brother, friend versus friend, son versus father ... they all had private battles that no one understood except for them.
I wanted to understand. But the more I spied, the more mystery I uncovered. I'd never know the whole story. There was so much I couldn't guess."
It'...more
The fireworks exploded, commemorating a war for independence, while all around me people fought their private battles. Even the Mean Boys. Sister versus brother, friend versus friend, son versus father ... they all had private battles that no one understood except for them.
I wanted to understand. But the more I spied, the more mystery I uncovered. I'd never know the whole story. There was so much I couldn't guess."
It'...more
Minty (short for Araminta) has a simple life. She loves roller derby, spending time with her best friend Paz and annoying her older sister, Thea. But lately things are getting complicated. Paz is starting to spend more time with these other girls and leaving Minty out. Plus, there are all these weird things happening in the neighborhood---things are disappearing and there's this weird boy taking pictures of people. And then Minty finds the tree.
It's this old tree with a hole in it---you know the...more
It's this old tree with a hole in it---you know the...more
Minty and her best friend Paz are keeping themselves busy during summer vacation. Changes are about to occur. They will be entering middle school when summer is over. But even before that their friendship is tested by change.
Minty has always desired to be in the Roller Derby. She imagines her name to be Minty Fresh with Paz being named Pax A. Punch. But Paz begins hanging out with another group of girls and is no longer interested in Minty's Roller Derby dream.
Minty catches a strange boy hiding...more
Minty has always desired to be in the Roller Derby. She imagines her name to be Minty Fresh with Paz being named Pax A. Punch. But Paz begins hanging out with another group of girls and is no longer interested in Minty's Roller Derby dream.
Minty catches a strange boy hiding...more
1 like · like · see review
The Secret Tree, some say it is the spirit of Crazy Ike residing inside the tree, a spirit that eats secrets. If you leave your secret there Crazy Ike'll eat it and the secret will go away.
Araminta (Minty Fresh) discovers the secret tree by accident whilst in the pursuit of the Man-Bat (another local legend) and finds a secret written on a scrap of paper, "No one loves me except my goldfish." Who could have such a sad secret?
This is only the first of many secrets that Minty discovers during th...more
Araminta (Minty Fresh) discovers the secret tree by accident whilst in the pursuit of the Man-Bat (another local legend) and finds a secret written on a scrap of paper, "No one loves me except my goldfish." Who could have such a sad secret?
This is only the first of many secrets that Minty discovers during th...more
[3.5]
This was a fun, gentle, sweet little preteen geared novel with just a hint of the supernatural, left tactfully unexplained. Minty Fresh (her roller derby name) is a curious, precocious eleven year old living in a bucolic neighborhood in suburban Maryland who spends her summer vacation trying to figure out the mysteries of her neighborhood and its people, both the supernatural and the personal (which may or may not be linked). This mostly takes the form of the “Secret Tree,” a mysterious tre...more
This was a fun, gentle, sweet little preteen geared novel with just a hint of the supernatural, left tactfully unexplained. Minty Fresh (her roller derby name) is a curious, precocious eleven year old living in a bucolic neighborhood in suburban Maryland who spends her summer vacation trying to figure out the mysteries of her neighborhood and its people, both the supernatural and the personal (which may or may not be linked). This mostly takes the form of the “Secret Tree,” a mysterious tre...more
Really a 3.5 star book.
Minty is best friends with Paz. It is the summer before 6th grade. Minty and Paz love roller derby and bugging their older sisters. When Paz decides to try out some new friends, Minty is left hanging. She discovers Raymond, and together they spy on the neighbors to find out who has left which secrets in The Secret Tree. A fun novel in which Minty struggles with growing up and finds out that everyone around her is struggling with something too.
I enjoyed this book. Minty fee...more
Minty is best friends with Paz. It is the summer before 6th grade. Minty and Paz love roller derby and bugging their older sisters. When Paz decides to try out some new friends, Minty is left hanging. She discovers Raymond, and together they spy on the neighbors to find out who has left which secrets in The Secret Tree. A fun novel in which Minty struggles with growing up and finds out that everyone around her is struggling with something too.
I enjoyed this book. Minty fee...more
Minty and her best friend Paz are roller derby fans. They plan to be in the same roller derby team together but one day Paz starts hanging out with older girls and ignoring Minty. That's when she finds The Secret Tree, a tree that has a ghost in it and if you put your secret in it the ghost will make it dissapear. She also meets Raymond, a boy who also knows about the secret tree and soon they become friends as Minty's world changes.
I picked this book up because it looked interesting and I wante...more
I picked this book up because it looked interesting and I wante...more
Like many of us, Minty's neighbors have secrets, and the soon-to-be sixth grader stumbles on a hollow in a tree where some of her neighbors write their secrets. As she and a mysterious boy named Raymond, who seems to live alone in a house on the edge of the woods, spy on Minty's family and friends, they begin to solve the mysteries about who has written each secret. Middle grade readers are likely to relate to Minty's situation in particular as her best friend Paz seems more interested in hangin...more
The author really understands what kids are dealing with in this age. The main character is an 11-year old girl named Minty. She deals with her problems in a way that is realistic and relevant to kids today, not at all preachy. This book is a terrific bildungsroman for tweens. It has minor elements of fantasy, but they are not critical plot points.
My 11-year old daughter has trouble sticking up for herself to the other kids in school. I definitely think she could benefit from the lessons that...more
My 11-year old daughter has trouble sticking up for herself to the other kids in school. I definitely think she could benefit from the lessons that...more
This was cute, and I agree with something I read in a review -- this is a classic "kids in the neighborhood during summer vacation" story. Minty (short for Araminta which makes me wonder if Natalie Standiford is a Carol Ryrie Brink fan) is 11 and looking forward to a summer of practicing roller derby moves with her best friend, Paz, and generally hanging out with the kids in the neighborhood. As these things tend to go in books like this, suddenly it seems that she and her friend aren't always o...more
This started off slow, but I ended up really liking it. Araminta (Minty) and her best friend live in a neighborhood across the street from a strand of woods. On the other side of the woods is the Witch's House, which they are all afraid of. One day Minty discovers a tree in the woods with a big hollow in it. Inside the hole she finds a secret written on a scrap of paper. It seems she is not the only kid in the neighborhood who has discovered the tree: every time Minty goes back to the woods, the...more
Recommended Age:
9+
Overall Review:
The Secret Tree is a sweet, thought-provoking book about the secrets one small town holds—secrets that seem an awful lot like they could belong to somebody you or I know. Natalie Standiford does an excellent job of capturing preteen Minty's voice, creating a story that is both readable and eloquent. The Secret Tree is a book that will appeal to preteens but also to adults who have a few secrets of their own.
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language:
***
Violence/Gore:...more
9+
Overall Review:
The Secret Tree is a sweet, thought-provoking book about the secrets one small town holds—secrets that seem an awful lot like they could belong to somebody you or I know. Natalie Standiford does an excellent job of capturing preteen Minty's voice, creating a story that is both readable and eloquent. The Secret Tree is a book that will appeal to preteens but also to adults who have a few secrets of their own.
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language:
***
Violence/Gore:...more
When Thea said " Oh, poor Minty. That's a terrible feeling." I started to think that maybe Thea wasn't so bad. For example, earlier in the story, Thea had been mean and told her friend how horrible Minty was. Now, I see that she isn't so mean. The thing is, Thea is also betraying her best friend, and Minty is being betrayed by her best friend, so maybe Thea knows what the situation Minty's in feels like.On the other hand, Thea could be being sarcastic. Also, earlier in the story, Thea had snoope...more
Cute story of a girl on the cusp of middle school where, as her older sister warns her, everything changes. Minty doesn't feel like anything is changing. She still loves roller derby and pretending to be great roller derby stars with her friend, Paz. But then she walks past a strange tree in the woods - a tree that holds people's secrets. Minty soon has a secret of her own - a boy with whom she tries to discover the hidden fears and desires of the neighborhood. But Minty's investigations uncover...more
A sweet story of a tree that's literally filled with secrets.
What is your secret?
Minty's neighborhood is full of mysteries. There's the Witch House, a spooky old farmhouse on the other side of woods from where Minty and her best friend, Paz, live. There's the Man Bat, a seven-foot-tall half man, half bat who is rumored to fly through the woods. And there are the Mean Boys, David and Troy, who torment Minty for no reason, and her boy-crazy older sister, Thea, who acts weirder and weirder.
One day...more
What is your secret?
Minty's neighborhood is full of mysteries. There's the Witch House, a spooky old farmhouse on the other side of woods from where Minty and her best friend, Paz, live. There's the Man Bat, a seven-foot-tall half man, half bat who is rumored to fly through the woods. And there are the Mean Boys, David and Troy, who torment Minty for no reason, and her boy-crazy older sister, Thea, who acts weirder and weirder.
One day...more
In "The Secret Tree," by Natalie Standiford, there are many secrets of everyone in the neighborhood. "No loves me except my goldfish," "I'm betraying my best friend in a terrible way," and many more are found in the tree. Minty, a roller derby loving 6th grade girl, tries to figure out which secret belongs to who with the help of her new friend, a mysterious boy who lives on the other side of the woods named Raymond. When she finds the secrets she comes to wonder if it could be Thea, her boy obs...more
Minty (roller girl name Minty Fresh) and her best friend Paz (or Pax A. Punch) plan on spending the summer hanging out on the block and practicing roller derby moves. But the Mean Boys are monopolizing the street, Paz's little sister is concerned about the Bat-Man, there's unfinished business at the witch house on the other side of the woods, and someone has placed a curse on Paz. Minty's problems escalate when Paz starts hanging out with some older girls and ignores Minty. When Minty stumbles u...more
Minty's neighborhood is full of mysteries. There's the Witch House, a spooky old farmhouse on the other side of woods from where Minty and her best friend, Paz, live. There's the Man Bat, a seven foot tall half man, half bat who is rumored to fly through the woods. And there are the Mean Boys, David and Troy, who torment Minty for no reason, and her boy-crazy older sister, Thea, who acts weirder and weirder.
One day Minty spots a flash in the woods, and when she chases after it, she discovers a n...more
One day Minty spots a flash in the woods, and when she chases after it, she discovers a n...more
Sweet story, about the power of friendship, the love and "hate" between siblings and the hope of a secret carried on the wings of the wind ( or found within the hallow trunk of "the secret tree"). The transition between elementary and middle school is a hard one to navigate for a lot of tweens, especially when it comes to trying to figure out how you fit in when everyone around you seems to be changing. This story starts off with a mystery, a flash that appears from the other edge of the woods,...more
All the loose ends were tied up neatly at the end, maybe a little too neatly for real life. I'm not clear on what happened to the written secrets prior to when the story starts. Wouldn't there have been other notes from previous times or years? I also find it odd that everyone used the tree, and used it just once each. What about identifying the handwriting of the notes? Would Raymond be happy with the foster family and not try to see his mother? Would social services given him to people with no...more
Writing for middle readers seems like a difficult task -- most readers are sophisticated enough that they can handle the introspective character-focused stuff, but there's still the need for plenty of action and plot to move things along. Standiford does a great job of handling the introspection here, particularly when it comes to navigating friendships both new and old. It's the action that I didn't enjoy as much -- for some reason, even though I normally enjoy things like ghosts and secret tre...more
I enjoyed this book. Minty's ten/eleven year old voice is refreshing and realistic. Even as some parts of the story become more mystical than mysterious, the reality of her life is still relatable. She fights with her older sister, feels left behind by her supposedly best friend, and discovers that there's a lot more to people than what she thinks she knows about them. I would definitely recommend this to a fourth or fifth grade girl. It's a quality read without being hard to get into. Minty's r...more
Sep 11, 2012
Erin Sterling
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Shelves:
character,
middle-school,
psc,
read-in-2012,
youth-fiction,
story,
youth-realistic,
youth-mystery
A solid upper elementary, early middle school read about a girl that discovers the secret tree one day--a tree with a hollow center where people from her small town have been leaving their secrets. A boy around her age who lives on his own in a housing development befriends her and together they start trying to figure out whose secret belongs to who, as she's trying to navigate that tricky social world when her best friends starts hanging out with a popular girl. While much seems unbelievable an...more
"Otis said when you disturb a spirit's grave, the ghost floats out of the ground and goes to live in a tree. Especially a tree with holes in it. And it eats secrets. So if you find a tree with a hole in it, you can put your secret there and the spirit makes it go away"...
"How does Otis know so much about spirits?" I asked. "He's from Louisiana," Raymond told me. "He knows voodoo."
Minty (Araminta Mortimer) lives in a town full of secrets, and her summer revolves around discovering the stories beh...more
"How does Otis know so much about spirits?" I asked. "He's from Louisiana," Raymond told me. "He knows voodoo."
Minty (Araminta Mortimer) lives in a town full of secrets, and her summer revolves around discovering the stories beh...more
The Secret Tree, written by Natalie Standiford was a very interesting book. It was about mystery friendship and betrayal.
Minty is an average soon to be 6th grader who lives in Catonsville Maryland. Minty, Thea, Paz, Lennie and Melina all live in the same neighborhood, Paz is Minty’s best friend, she has two sisters, Melina and Lennie. Thea is Minty’s sister who always complains about Minty to Melina.
On Halloween Paz and Minty got dared to ding-dong-ditch a creepy old which house by these two...more
Minty is an average soon to be 6th grader who lives in Catonsville Maryland. Minty, Thea, Paz, Lennie and Melina all live in the same neighborhood, Paz is Minty’s best friend, she has two sisters, Melina and Lennie. Thea is Minty’s sister who always complains about Minty to Melina.
On Halloween Paz and Minty got dared to ding-dong-ditch a creepy old which house by these two...more
Great summer story for girls heading into the uncertainty of middle school with all the changes kids at that time period go through with friends and family. Minty, of Catonsville, MD is looking forward to a summer with her best friend, Paz, another roller derby fan, when Paz loses interest in childish roller skating and prefers the friendship of others. Minty also discovers a tree this summer where people leave their secrets written on paper and tucked into one of its hole. This was on the Washi...more
Everyone has secrets in this midddle grade novel, set in a typical neighborhood and featuring an average, likeable MC named Minty. I liked the family relationships (particularly the ones between older and younger sisters), and all of the characters-- including the "Mean Boys"-- had an interesting and plausible back story.
Good line:
"I was learning this thing about secrets: Even if they're not about you, once you know them, they feel like they could be about you. Every secret connects to something...more
Good line:
"I was learning this thing about secrets: Even if they're not about you, once you know them, they feel like they could be about you. Every secret connects to something...more
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Natalie Standiford, author of "How to Say Goodbye in Robot," "Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters," and the popular "Space Dog" and "Dating Game" series, has written picture books, nonfiction, chapter books, teen novels, and even horror novels for young adults. Standiford also plays bass in the rock band Tiger Beat, with fellow YA authors Libba Bray, Daniel Ehrenhaft, and Barnabas Miller.
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“You're a big sister?' I was shocked. She seemed so good-natured and compassionate.”
—
8 people liked it
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Apr 15, 2012 07:38am