MARIE CURIOUS, GIRL GENIUS

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.