In My Grandmother's House: Rats, Bats, Ghosts and Marbles

Twelve-year old Billy Kent's life couldn’t be any better. On Christmas Eve his family was about to leave for the vacation of a lifetime. Then disaster struck. Their house caught fire and burned to the ground. The fire destroyed everything, including all the Christmas presents. But things were about to get even worse.

Billy’s dad forgot to pay the fire insurance on the house. The real truth was that Billy’s Dad lost his job and couldn’t pay all the bills. He didn’t want to spoil the family’s vacation by telling them he lost his job. Now, they would be forced to live with Grandma Rose on her farm. Grandma Rose lived in an 1800s era run-down farmhouse with no electricity, no running water, and no indoor bathroom.

Life on the farm forces the family to live with a host of unwelcome visitors. Bats fly through the bedrooms. Rats live in the walls of the house and cause all sorts of havoc. Everything on the farm is strange, from the wild cats, dogs, and hogs to the hen-pecking, human-attacking chickens. And when things couldn’t get any stranger, ghostly spirits appear to befriend Billy and teach him the most important lessons in life. He soon meets Swift Deer who was massacred in the French-Indian War. Then, there is Nathaniel, who mistakenly set a fire which killed him and his baby sister in the 1800s. But Swift Deer, Nathaniel, and other spirits don’t have much time to accomplish their mission. Billy must learn life’s most valuable lessons before his 13th birthday.