The Secret Tree by Natalie Standiford is a book about the ups and downs of friendship and the secrets that we all keep inside. Minty is a character I could relate to because she is someone who enjoys being a kid and doesn’t really want things to change. My heart went out to her as she struggled with friendships that were in transition. I especially loved the advice her older sister gives her about middle school and friendships. I had fun trying to figure out who the secrets belonged to and found the detective work done by Raymond and Minty to be fascinating. The beginning of this book started off a little slow for me because I didn’t really know much about roller derby and there are many references in the first twenty pages. I stuck with the book, and I am glad I did! The rest of the book flew by, and I couldn’t wait to see how everything turned out. I recommend this book for kids in third through seventh grade. Kids getting ready for middle school will relate to this book and will connect to the characters. It makes you wonder what secrets the people around you are keeping!
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This book is about a girl named Minty Fresh who finds a tree that has secrets inside it. The people who know about the tree, say that there is a ghost named 'Crazy Ike' that lives inside it and eats the secrets. Later in the book, Minty meets a boy named Raymond who keeps a notebook of these secrets. In this book both of them try to solve all the secrets and in the end they succeed.
I did not like this book as much as the other books I have read. Even though they are Fantasy books, I am usually able to connect with the characters, but in this one I could not really connect with them. I was not a big fan of they way the author wrote the story and I did not get drawn into the book. ( )

Minty is trying to enjoy summer. Her best friend starts acting weird and she hears whispers from a tree in the woods behind her house. The tree is a place where people in her town leave their secrets. With her new, mysterious friend Raymond, whe begins to spy on her family, freinds, and neighbors in the hopes of discovering what secret belongs to whom and to help people begin to solve their problems.
Sometimes major problems are just skimmed over, and it's got the old friendship changing in middle school thing with a lot of happily ever after resolutions. A cute breezy story. ( )

Here is a book where a child learns to look deeper at all the people around her as she tries to match secrets to neighbors. It is touching in the ways she tries to help everyone and grows in maturity as she does. The more she knows of others the more she finds they are alike. Each secret could be anyone's. I enjoyed this quick but deep read. ( )

A mystery but a mystery the way Three Times Lucky is a mystery. The characters and friendships and changes take center stage and are the best part of this story. The tree and its random notes felt like a mere plot device and that's what failed for me. ( )