The Runaway Friend: A Kirsten Mystery (American Girl Mysteries (Quality))
Grade 3–5—This installment in the popular series follows the adventures of a young Swede adjusting to life on the Minnesota frontier in the mid 1800s. When her neighbor Erik, who had promised to help her family with the harvest, mysteriously vanishes, leaving an unpaid loan behind, Kirsten is determined to find out what happened to him. Despite her family's opinion that he merely ran away from his responsibilities, she feels that he may have had different motives. Against her parents' wishes, she investigates and discovers several clues that lead to the truth of Erik's disappearance. Throughout the story, the author weaves in information about the dangers of frontier life, and the narrative concludes with interesting historical notes describing what life was like for these early immigrants.—Donna Atmur, Los Angeles Public LibraryCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.