Curiosity by Gerald Allen Wunsch, illustrated by Irene Joslin Ages 9-12 116 pages 1st Books Library May 2003 Paperback     Fifth-grader Ginger Wanamaker and her best friend, Irene Fong, are spending a few days with Ginger’s grandparents in rural Indiana while the girls’ parents take a trip together to Europe. Ginger’s grandparents, George and Abby Wanamaker, live with their wire fox terrier, Laird, who turns out to be a good companion for the girls as they explore their new surroundings. During their visit, George takes Ginger and Irene on a visit to a neighbor’s house, which the girls learn was once a “station” on the Underground Railroad. Ginger and Irene are delighted to be shown the secret tunnel leading to the attic where runaway slaves once hid. Back at George and Abby’s house, Laird digs a deep hole which turns out to be a heretofore unknown root cellar. George wants to fill in the cellar before it collapses, but he is called away to a coin show in Ohio. The girls decide to explore the cellar in secret, suspecting it may have been yet another station on the Underground Railroad. On a midnight expedition, they find a tarnished coin which turns out, after some cleaning, to be a Hard Times Token issued by the American Anti-Slavery Society. The rest of the story is quickly summarized by Ginger, who reveals that the girls have indeed discovered a stop on the Underground Railroad. Curiosity makes for a pleasant read. The writing has a lot of simple charm, and the storyline is believable and interesting. Telling the story of the Underground Railroad from a contemporary perspective is a nice touch on the part of the author and more likely to strike a chord with a modern reader. The footnotes at the end of certain chapters directing the reader to entries on specific topics at the end of the book can be a useful teaching tool. The storyline meanders several times, with asides on MG sports cars, the history of Suriname, and wire fox terriers. In such a short book, even these brief asides ended up wasting much precious time and space on topics which, although potentially interesting, do not advance the plot line. The latter half of the story feels rushed; the device of having Ginger simply summarize the events that unfold after they find the cellar does not quite work. More careful editing would have brought out the full potential of this first-time writer’s promising story.     web reviews   Usha Reynolds/2008 for curled up with a good kid's book   For grown-up fiction, nonfiction and speculative fiction book reviews, visit our sister site Curled Up With a Good Book (www.curledup.com)