A MESSAGE FROM THE MATCH GIRL

The third Investigators entry presents a tantalizing mystery of mother love. Left in Granny Docker's casserole dish after a church supper, Walter Kew has no memory of his mother, only a baby picture posed in front of a statue of Hans Christian Andersen's Match Girl in a local park. When someone starts sending Walter matches in the mail and leaving tokens of his past at the statue (a tiny blue mitten, a hospital ID bracelet), his friends Poco and Georgina suspect a shy waitress who works near the park of being Walter's real mother. Walter prefers to believe in a ghostly parent who gives him what he most desperately needs—the knowledge that he was loved and never abandoned. Lisle (Looking for Juliette, 1994, etc.) brings grace and precision to every line of this thoughtful book that is full of a child's wistful fancy and hope. Distinctive characters—the dialogue between Poco and Georgina is always funny and true—and a compelling theme combine eloquently in a memorable work. (Fiction. 9-11)