Trouble in Contrary Woods — Linda Salisbury

Book 6 in the Bailey Fish Adventure series continues with all sorts of trouble in Contrary Woods near where Bailey Fish and her friends, Noah and Fred Keswick, and their foster sister, Sparrow live. The troubles include a destructive bear, mysterious messages in Morse code, a hunter and disappearing clothes. When Bailey's cousin, Duck, arrives for a short visit, he refuses to fit in with the fun of country life. Duck is afraid of bugs and doesn't want to get dirty. He misses life in the city and his computer games. But soon the trouble intrigues even Duck, and he uses his creative mind to invent a monster-detector and a trap to catch whatever is responsible. What the trap snares surprises everyone. The embedded history includes Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's inventions and food interests, and Lewis and Clark.