Jolly good fun
In which a disabled white girl from the British upper crust becomes a bohemian art student, meets the Suffragettes, and is rescued from dastardly murder and plotting by spunky Edwardian girl detectives.
Leo—Leonora to her family—is sick of being the unattractive, limping girl in her family’s joyless mansion. Amazingly, she’s been accepted for the 1909 class at London’s Spencer Institute of Fine Art. Though she’s exceedingly shy, Leo befriends the free-spirited art students as they volunteer for art-lover Mr. Lyle’s art exhibition at Sinclair’s department store. Luckily, this brings Leo into the orbit of this series’ sleuths: shopgirl Sophie, actress (and part-time department store mannequin) Lilian, and their friends. Everything goes awry when the gem of Mr. Lyle’s exhibition, the priceless painting known as The Green Dragon, is stolen and replaced with a copy by Leo. Is she a suspect? Why is a mysterious man with scarlet gloves trying to murder her? Thank goodness for Sophie, Lil, and all their friends. Everyone appears to be white except for Mei Lim, introduced in the previous series entry (The Mystery of the Jeweled Moth), at whose family’s China Town home Leo takes refuge. This old-fashioned whodunit is thoroughly satisfying to solve along with our heroes, and there are plenty of secrets left over for Volume 4.
Jolly good fun . (Historical fiction/mystery. 11-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-61067-661-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Kane Miller
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
A nicely balanced, believable and interesting view into adolescence, sex education and the power of faith.
A 14-year-old girl tries to follow her Catholic faith but wants to get her first kiss too.
Gloria Jean likes Connor, but on her first date with him she has a bout of the Troubles, an ailment that requires embarrassing emergency trips to the bathroom at awkward times. Connor’s not the only boy around, though; she meets another boy, Ian, in her Confirmation classes. In fact, she learns more about the ethics of kissing from her Confirmation classes than from the sex-ed class she takes at school. She goes through a minor rebellion when she learns that her Troubles are caused by celiac disease, which means that she will no longer be able to take the host in Communion. Wondering why the church requires wheat to be used in the host, she investigates. Even as Gloria Jean breaks a few rules in her anger and frustration, she nevertheless comes across as a basically good and sincere girl. Leigh titles each chapter with an amusing “Commandment” for kissing and writes convincingly from inside the head of her main character, who comes across as a fully realized adolescent. She presents a credible portrait of teen friendships and their angst over romance.
A nicely balanced, believable and interesting view into adolescence, sex education and the power of faith. (Fiction. 11-14)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-8198-7491-7
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Pauline Teen
Review Posted Online: Nov. 30, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2013
What do flowers remember? The stories of the people who cared for them, of course, as Wiersbitzky’s sensitive novel...
Thanks to her love of flowers, Delia has become a sort of apprentice to talented gardener Old Red and is devastated when he begins to show signs of encroaching dementia.
With all of the confidence of youth, she holds in her heart the belief that perhaps with her help—and that of all his loving neighbors—she can preserve his memories by collecting favorite stories about the beloved man. As she moves through the months, she records (in a rather mature first-person) both the tasks she completes in the garden as well as the stories she collects about him, also describing Red’s tragically inexorable decline. Delia’s surrounded by loving adults, and she shares her grief with best friend Mae and new love interest Tommy, as well as receiving support from members of her church; with these relationships, this warm effort neatly captures the strength of a close-knit community and the tight bonds that can form between the very old and the young. The 13-year-old’s often lyrical prose is attractive, even though it sometimes strays toward a more adult-sounding voice. Her frustration, fear and sense of loss will be readily recognizable to others who have experienced dementia in a loved one, and her story may provide some guidance on how to move down that rocky path toward acceptance and letting go.
What do flowers remember? The stories of the people who cared for them, of course, as Wiersbitzky’s sensitive novel compassionately conveys. (Fiction. 11-14)Pub Date: May 3, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-60898-166-3
Page Count: 158
Publisher: Namelos
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
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