STEM-centric sleuthing, with cooperation and girl power getting brisk thematic boosts.
A potentially life-changing invitation to a science camp run by the world’s richest technocrat pitches 12-year-old English inventor Marie Trelawney into a heady whirl of science and danger.
Hardly has Marie—dubbed “Marie Curious” by her mum—arrived at the dazzlingly high-tech California campus of VanceCorp than hints begin dropping that all is not as it seems. For one thing, eccentric billionaire CEO Sterling Vance warns her of spies; for another, VanceCorp’s new OS update, about to be released worldwide, is oddly full of bugs and glitches. Worst of all, Marie’s precious notebook disappears, and the science projects she and her fellow attendees are working on are sabotaged. Hooking up with three other girls who share complementary STEM skills—teamwork!—Marie observes and reasons her way past clues pointing to multiple suspects on the way to a technologically simplistic but suitably dramatic climax. Two subsequent entries in this British import that are releasing simultaneously likewise feature some contrivance on the way to their denouements but also generous measures of deduction, advanced tech, and help from Marie’s squad. In Marie Curious, Girl Genius: Rescues a Rock Star, Marie attends a tech show in London where she discovers the star attraction has fallen victim to a presumed kidnapping. She again saves the world from an evil scheme in Marie Curious, Girl Genius: Undercover Gamer, which takes place during a Beijing VR gaming tournament. Cover art depicts Marie with brown skin and long black hair; her mum uses an electric wheelchair. Short chapters and ample white space contribute to the accessibility of these titles.
STEM-centric sleuthing, with cooperation and girl power getting brisk thematic boosts. (Science mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: March 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-68464-352-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Kane Miller
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
An intriguing mystery with a satisfying emotional payoff.
When Rafa Alvarez and his two best friends decide to bring their favorite role-playing game into the real world, the consequences become just as real.
Between his father’s strict nature and his mother’s worsening illness, Cuban American Rafa has retreated into playing The Forgotten Age with Beto and Yesi. However, after they attempt to steal a slushie machine from the school cafeteria as part of the game, Dad decides Rafa would best learn his lesson by spending a month on a ranch…all the way across the country from Florida in New Mexico. When Rafa arrives at Rancho Espanto, or Terror Ranch, he forms new friendships with Korean American Jennie Kim, the librarian’s daughter, and Black barn manager Marcus Coleman, an army veteran. But when a strange man in a green sweater begins to appear, causing chaos for Rafa, the seemingly sedate ranch becomes the site of an exciting—and slightly terrifying—mystery to solve. Together, Rafa and Jennie work to uncover the strange (possibly paranormal) happenings at Rancho Espanto. While the mystery lies at the core of this novel, the exploration of themes of loss, grief, and identity add complexity. Readers familiar with these subjects will see themselves in Rafa as he struggles to come to terms with and understand his mother’s condition and build his own identity.
An intriguing mystery with a satisfying emotional payoff. (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9780374390433
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
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Slick sleuthing punctuated by action on the boards and insights into differences that matter—and those that don’t.
Brothers, one neurodivergent, team up to shoot baskets and find a thief.
With the coach spit-bellowing at him to play better or get out, basketball tryouts are such a disaster for 11-year-old Green that he pelts out of the gym—becoming the chief suspect to everyone except his fiercely protective older brother, Cedar, when a valuable ring vanishes from the coach’s office. Used to being misunderstood, Green is less affected by the assumption of his guilt than Cedar, whose violent reactions risk his suspension. Switching narrative duties in alternating first-person chapters, the brothers join forces to search for clues to the real thief—amassing notes, eliminating possibilities (only with reluctance does Green discard Ringwraiths from his exhaustive list of possible perps), and, on the way to an ingenious denouement, discovering several schoolmates and grown-ups who, like Cedar, see Green as his own unique self, not just another “special needs” kid. In an author’s note, King writes that he based his title characters on family members, adding an element of conviction to his portrayals of Green as a smart, unathletic tween with a wry sense of humor and of Cedar’s attachment to him as founded in real affection, not just duty. Ultimately, the author finds positive qualities to accentuate in most of the rest of the cast too, ending on a tide of apologies and fence-mendings. Cedar and Green default to White.
Slick sleuthing punctuated by action on the boards and insights into differences that matter—and those that don’t. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-66590-261-8
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
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