MRS. SMITH'S SPY SCHOOL FOR GIRLS

Unexpectedly enrolled in a prestigious boarding school, 12-year-old Abigail suddenly finds herself embroiled in a dangerous mission for a secret spy ring.

“A chronic user of poor judgment,” mixed-race Abigail has dark eyes and hair, “deep tan” skin, and a penchant for trouble. Facing a “complicated year,” her white, single-parent mother, Jennifer, enrolls Abigail in Smith School in Connecticut, hoping her daughter will be challenged. However, Abigail soon discovers Smith clandestinely recruits and trains select students to gather intelligence for the Center, an elite national security organization. To Abigail’s amazement, she also learns her mother’s a Smith alum, was “the Center’s top agent,” has vanished trailing the infamous Ghost, and may be in “terrible danger.” The Center enlists Abigail to act as bait to locate Jennifer, but the mission aborts, leaving Abigail on her own to outwit Ghost operatives. Determined to find Jennifer, Abigail cracks a key clue with help from Smith classmates (a multiethnic bunch) and emerges a wannabe spy. Abigail’s first-person, present-tense narration lends nail-biting immediacy, vulnerability, and self-effacing humor to her attempts to escape from Smith, her cursory spy training, and her harrowing experiences as a hostage and escapee.

A sassy, new spy series with a spunky heroine, multitalented sidekicks, and tense, rapid-fire adventure