The first entry in an entertaining new girl detective series; here’s hoping future volumes will develop both...
An Edwardian shopgirl, accused of a theft she didn't commit, solves the dastardly deed with the help of her new friends.
Sophie's been orphaned since her father died with a mysterious lack of a will, but she's determined to exhibit a stiff upper lip. She takes a job in London's first department store, and though she's proud of her position, she's beastly lonely. Her co-workers are textbook mean girls, but Sophie soon makes unusual friends: Billy, the scruffy mystery-lover; Lil, the cheerful store model and aspiring actress; and Joe, the wounded boy who’s escaped a life working for the crime lord known as the Baron. These white, likable, far too thinly drawn teens begin as mere friends, but when the jeweled Clockwork Sparrow is stolen and Sophie is fired over suspicion for the crime, they band together to solve it themselves. The Baron's involvement terrifies Joe—he'd never have gotten involved with the mystery crime lord if it weren't for the fact that, with a Russian grandad, he's not "a proper British lad" and has no other opportunities—but they have to help Sophie. The puzzles comprising the mystery are of varying quality: one is completely solvable by readers, while another is solved without giving readers their own chance. Sequel The Mystery of the Jeweled Moth publishes simultaneously.
The first entry in an entertaining new girl detective series; here’s hoping future volumes will develop both characterization and puzzles . (Mystery. 11-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-61067-437-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Kane Miller
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
Concisely captures big, serious ideas about life and relationships.
An eighth grader in Greenwich Village finds solace in a kindred spirit during turbulent times.
Emily has loved books ever since leaving the orphanage in China to live with her white adoptive parents. But now that she’s been forced to move to Chien-Shiung Wu School (“named for a physicist who… // …was a total badass”), reading is a lifeline. Losing touch with her best friends and the scariness of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic are bad enough. Even worse: Almost everyone at her new school speaks Cantonese and is already learning Mandarin. It’s just Emily and a few white and Black kids who are beginning speakers. Her family expects her to feel grateful for a chance to “get in touch with her roots.” Instead she feels exposed, embarrassed by her lack of cultural and linguistic knowledge. Amid her loneliness, she discovers Emily Dickinson, whose poems help her process complicated feelings about adoption, loss, race, and belonging. There’s also a mysterious connection between the two Emilys—could Dickinson’s ghost be guiding Emily to open up to new possibilities like making friends? Many readers will find this verse novel’s approach to Dickinson’s poems illuminating: They’re riddles to be solved, presented alongside contemporary Emily’s rephrased passages. Insights from adults in Emily’s life offer wisdom that readers may find thought provoking, although they may wish for some humor to offer occasional reprieve from the heavy themes.
Concisely captures big, serious ideas about life and relationships. (books and art referenced) (Verse fiction. 11-14)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2024
ISBN: 9780593567012
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Make Me a World
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
Thirteen-year-old love at its finest.
Two seventh grade Boston girls meet in poetry club, fall in love, fight, and find their way back to each other in this verse novel.
Even though “Love at First Sight is not a thing,” Olivia and new girl Eden quickly become friends and then more. But Eden, whose mom has left and whose dad is homophobic, wants to keep their relationship secret. Eden also becomes part of a tightknit group of girls she names the Crash. After one of their parties, Olivia hurls a misogynistic slur at Eden and breaks up with her. Regretful, Olivia later comes up with a scheme to win Eden back: a poetry night where she will perform a poem of apology. Both girls are largely without supportive adult guidance—Olivia’s mother has depression, and her avoidant dad works long hours—so they make mistakes and correct them as best they can, relying on poetry, music, and friends to fill in the gaps. Their personalities shine through their beautifully crafted poems, full of aches, worries, and joys. Three final poems, set a few months later, provide a coda and some closure. Olivia’s poems are aligned left, Eden’s are aligned right; drafts of Olivia’s apology poems appear on lined paper in a spiral-bound notebook. Both girls are coded White; Olivia’s best friend is trans.
Thirteen-year-old love at its finest. (Verse fiction. 11-14)Pub Date: May 30, 2023
ISBN: 9780063256941
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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