Now she spends the day in mundane Lamb school and sneaks out at night to learn magic with her cadre of Leopard friends: a handsome American bad boy, an arrogant girl who is Orlu’s childhood friend and Orlu himself. Sunny, it seems, is a Leopard person, one of the magical folk who live in a world mostly populated by ignorant Lambs. When a boy in her class, Orlu, rescues her from a beating, Sunny is drawn in to a magical world she's never known existed. She can't play soccer with the boys because, as she says, 'being albino made the sun my enemy,' and she has only enemies at school. Who can't love a story about a Nigerian-American 12-year-old with albinism who discovers latent magical abilities and saves the world? Sunny lives in Nigeria after spending the first nine years of her life in New York. Well-plotted and fast-paced-a great read.

Honor and respect play a large part in the actions of all the characters in this first-rate mystery. There Seikei confronts the answer and the danger of their quest. To solve the mystery, the two travel the country to the Etchu Province and obtain permission to enter onto Mount Miwa. From the beginning, the two knew that a ninja had committed the murder, but the Shogun requested Ooka to find the person who ordered the assassination. This tale solidifies that reputation as the judge and his fictional foster son, Seikei, seek to solve the murder of a prominent lord. Traditional tales have established Judge Ooka as the Sherlock Holmes of Japan.

The judge lived during the eighth Shogun of the Tokugawa family, who ruled Japan in the early 1700s. The Hooblers first introduced Judge Ooka to readers in The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn (1999) and The Demon in the Teahouse (2001). Adventure (and honor) in the land of ancient Japan-in the world of ninjas and the Shogun-will intrigue young readers who will find themselves fascinated with the details.

The ghost in the tokaido inn summary