Mansion in the Woods

Storm winds scattered leaves across the forest floor. Tears streamed down the man's wild face becoming lost in the tangle of his beard. Stacy could feel his anguish, his burning rage, and terrible wanting with no solution... Stacy Gellis, 12, wakes from a nightmare where a hermit finds he's about to lose his forest to a greedy land developer for back taxes. In her quest to save the forest, she confronts an ability to lie shaped by running a gang of war orphans in Vietnam while growing up as an unwanted Amerasian child. Her determination leads her to learn how local government works. Through cunning and a refusal to take no for an answer, she saves the forest only to find the land developer has plans to steal the land by using corrupt members of the County Board of Supervisors. She finds her fifth grade teacher she treated badly is a member of the Board and must make peace to enlist her help. Stacy has to find a way to convince the Board of Supervisors to accept the forest as a gift to the county. Will she succeed? At the end of the novel is a teacher's classroom guide dealing with questions and ideas about government, technology, ethics, and the environment.