The Secret of Goldenrod Hardcover – October 1, 2016

This book tells the story of (almost) 11 year old Trina & her Dad, Poppo. Growing up, Trina has traveled all over the United States with her Poppo, who is a handyman, renovating old houses – meaning for her whole childhood Trina never had a real home.Trina is hoping that with this move, maybe her life can finally start coming together. She is hopeful to put down some roots, at long last and just maybe even find a best friend.The setting of the story, is New Royal, Iowa; population 397. New Royal is a very small town where everyone knows everyone else & their business. This town is where Trina has just moved with her Poppo; who has just taken a job to restore a decrepit Queen Anne mansion known locally as Goldenrod – a house that the locals believe is haunted because of its heartrending history.Trina’s Poppo has accepted a yearlong contract to make the house habitable again. This move is also the closest Trina has ever come to having a permanent home.Just after moving in, Trina is upstairs exploring the bedrooms, when she discovers an antique dollhouse & an antique porcelain doll named Augustine – that is a hundred years old.This antique doll becomes very special to Trina, because the doll talks and pretty soon becomes her first friend, confidante, and mentor.After discovering the antique doll Augustine, Trina feels a yearning to learn the tragic history of Goldenrod and its past owners: the Roy family. Because ever since moving into Goldenrod, Trina has a feeling that the house is trying to tell her something, but she just doesn’t know what.Trina goes to the local library where the librarian helps her understand some of the history behind this once magnificent home. Soon Trina starts to uncover the source of the local legends & begins to understand what Goldenrod has been trying to tell her.Trina then vows to make things right again for Augustine, Goldenrod, New Royal, and Annie, the little girl who lived in Goldenrod in 1912.The question to ask, dear reader, is Goldenrod really haunted or is something else going on inside this once loved home? To find out the answer to this question, get a copy of this amazing story right away. For within the first few pages, you will be caught up in an amazing adventure right alongside Trina; as she discovers the secrets of Goldenrod.

Just an awesome tale. I initially thought it was a horror book but it was more of a tale about friendship, family, and imagination. I recommend this book!

My daughter, who is 9, and I are reading this book together. Great book for 4th graders and on up. Short chapters.

A great story! I can't wait to read this to my 4th graders (:

This was a good book ! A good read would recommend!

The Secret of Goldenrod was a wonderful story! I had a hard time putting it down. It was so much fun. I would recommend it to anyone young or young at heart!

When I spotted THE SECRET OF GOLDENROD in a library display, I was attracted by the Victorian house on the cover. The information on the front flap sounded good, so I checked it out. I'm glad I did.Trina Maxwell is a 5th grader who has spent most of her life moving around. Her father is a carpenter who restores houses. Her mother left eight years ago. Trina treasures the postcards her mom sends her from around the world.The current project, the restoration of a Victorian house named 'Goldenrod,' could take as long as a year. Trina is looking forward to spending an entire school year in the same school. (This former Air Force brat sympathizes.) She's also looking forward to living at Goldenrod.Trina's enthusiasm for the house dies when she sees it. It seems spooky. Her enthusiasm for going to school in New Royal, Iowa, dies when she meets her classmates, especially mean girl Charlotte. The school is having Trina be called by her real name, 'Citrine '. Charlotte uses a rhyming word to give her a hateful nickname.Although 'Poppo' tells Trina there is no such thing as a haunted house, the folks in New Royal believe that Goldenrod is haunted. Her classmates don't believe that Trina is actually living there. After all, New Royal kids have been trying to spent the night at Goldenrod since old Miss Kitty of the Cat's Meow Diner was a kid. No one ever made it through the entire night. (Trina learns this after spending her first, hardly restful, night there.)Then Trina finds her way into the house's turret room. There she discovers a shabby dollhouse with one little porcelain doll in it. I loved it when the doll starts talking to Trina. It's August, so the doll is dubbed 'Augustine'.Trina not only helps her father restore the main house, she works on restoring the doll house to its former splendor. Trina's goes to the New Royal Public Library to find out more about the family who first owned Goldenrod and their little girl, Annie, who owned Augustine. There librarian Peter Kinghorn answers some of her questions. It's a sad story. Poor Annie was born before an effective vaccine was widely available.I didn't know why the house was almost completely empty when the Maxwells got there. What happened to the furnishings and how they come back is a running subplot. I'm particularly impressed by the large and heavy dining room table's disappearance.Another subplot is Augustine's obsession with fairy tales. She wants to find her prince. This leads to a tense and comic scene at school.I think it's interesting that citrine, which is one of what used to be called semi precious gemstones, is often golden colored. If you believe that crystals have power, the powers claimed for citrine are certainly what Trina needs. Trina may have her own needs, but she also has the feeling that Goldenrod needs her. If only she could figure out what the house is trying to tell her.Whether or not the house is haunted seems to be answered one stormy evening after Trina and her father have a very big quarrel. Mike Maxwell meant it for the best, but Trina doesn't feel that way. I don't blame her for that, either.Notes:Chapter 9: "Shone" is for light and reflections of light when they aren't the object of the action. "Shined" is used if some one has been shining something. When Trina polished the dollhouse banister, it shone, not shined.Chapter 21: Ahem -- a tomato costume would could be used to go as one from the delightfully silly 1978 movie "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" or its 1990-1991 cartoon spinoff with the same title. (I can recommend the first season of the cartoon. I stopped watching when the animation art got worse in the second.)Chapter 25:a. It was the witches of the North and South who were good in the first Oz book.b.. Clarence the Angel is from that lovely movie, "It's a Wonderful Life".c. Sherlock Holmes' deerstalker cap-wearing was started in 1891 by his illustrator, Sidney Paget, not his author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, so Holmes wearing a top hot is fine.d. "Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charm"' is the song used in old Warner Brothers cartoons where a musical instrument is rigged to explode, but the intended victim keeps missing that note.Various mysteries get solved, Augustine is pleased, and Trina finds some of her wishes coming true in a story that I would have loved to have read when I was the target age (8 - 12), and I still loved reading although I'm 63. I highly recommend THE SECRET OF GOLDENROD to middle school readers and adults who never lost their taste for good children's books.

Trina and her dad travel all over the country renovating houses. When her dad announces their next project will be a Queen Anne named Goldenrod, replete with filly trim and a wraparound porch, Trina envisions a house fit for a princess. After bumping down dirt roads and rolling through cornfields, Trina and her dad finally arrive at Goldenrod - a decrepit old house that might just be haunted."The house was not what she had expected. It didn't need to be fixed up. It needed to be torn down. Boards covered all the windows, and the few shutters that remained dangled from their hinges. Pillars that would have held up a porch roof, if the porch had still been there, lay in the weeds like fallen trees."Several opening chapters are dedicated to emphasizing that Goldenrod has a reputation for being haunted, but this isn't a horror novel. The authors ops for whimsy over scary, playing off of nearly every child's secret hope that his or her toys will come to life. Goldenrod is no ordinary house, but not for the reasons first presented.Packed with small town vibes, childish innocence, and writing that is sweet in its simplicity, The Secret of Goldenrod is a tale of one compassionate little girl yearning for friendship and finding it in unlikely places.

It is a must read book and it is very hard to put down. I recommend this book for all ages.