A cozy whodunit that cheerfully affirms girls’ and women’s contributions to aerospace.
Six girls spend the night at Amelia Earhart’s childhood home and end up in the middle of a robbery.
When 11-year-old Amelia, nicknamed Millie, gets to the home of the eponymous aviator, she stumbles upon an incredible artifact: the goggles Earhart wore on her solo flight across the Atlantic. Not long afterward, however, the goggles go missing. Millie’s determination both to find them and to reach out to her absent pilot mother is endearing; even more so is the friendship that develops among Millie and the other five girls as they work to solve the mystery. Though shy, anxious Millie narrates, by the time she comes into her sarcastic own all six girls cohere into a charming ensemble cast. From Thea, the girl who builds and rides motorcycles with her auntie, to the generous turkey-truck driver who rescues Millie and her dad, the novel presents a suite of characters who, as Thea would say, “are like cake. [They] have layers.” Narrator Amelia notes skin color only for those characters with dark skin; others’ descriptions only go as far as hair color, evidently relying on the white default. Due honor is given to trailblazing Deaf pilot Nellie Zabel Willhite and black and Native pilot Bessie Coleman. An author’s note adds fascinating context on Earhart’s real story.
A cozy whodunit that cheerfully affirms girls’ and women’s contributions to aerospace. (reading list, author’s note, selected sources) (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: June 30, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-1885-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Delightful fun for budding mystery fans.
Only children, rejoice! A cozy mystery just for you! (People with siblings will probably enjoy it too.)
Debut novelist Cornett introduces the One and Onlys, a trio of mystery-solving only kids: Gloria Longshanks “Shanks” Hill, Alexander “Peephole” Calloway, and narrator Paul (alas, no nickname) Marconi. The trio has a knack for finding and solving low-level mysteries, but they come up against a true head-scratcher when the yard of a resident of their small town is covered in rubber ducks overnight. Working ahead of Officer Portnoy, who’s a little on the slow side, can Paul, Shanks, and Peephole solve the mystery? Cornett has a lot of fun with this adventure, dropping additional side mysteries, a subplot about small businesses, big corporations, and economics, and a town’s love of bratwurst into the mix. Most importantly, he plays fair with the clues throughout, allowing astute readers to potentially solve the case ahead of the trio. The tone and mystery are perfect for younger readers who want to test their detective skills but are put off by anything scary or gory. The pacing would serve well for chapter-by-chapter read-alouds. If there are any quibbles, it’s the lack of diversity of the cast, as it defaults white. Diversity exists in small towns, and this one is crying out for more. Hopefully a sequel will introduce additional faces.
Delightful fun for budding mystery fans. (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-3003-6
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
Supernatural mystery meets generational drama with hopeful endings for all.
Eleven-year-old Frank must solve a supernatural mystery to save his new home.
As fifth grade comes to an end, Frank Fernández is looking forward to finally staying put in Alabama for a second year, as promised, after a childhood spent following his parents’ home renovation work all across the country. Frequent relocation has made Frank wary of forming friendships or making plans, but his hopes for more stability are temporarily dashed when his parents announce plans to renovate a lighthouse in the Florida Keys, near where his mother grew up and his father’s home country of Cuba. Papi promises this will be their last move, though: The lighthouse will be theirs. But from their first day on Spectacle Key, things seem to go wrong: Tensions rise between his parents, and Frank’s hopes of a forever home are under threat from seemingly supernatural forces. In order to put down roots, Frank and new ghostly friend Connie, a White girl with freckles, must discover what secrets the island is hiding, uncovering Frank’s own family roots along the way. Frank is a fan of horror—he names his new Great Dane puppy Mary Shelley. But though there is some mild peril to be found, rather than a ghostly thriller, this is an appealing, lightly spooky family drama with valuable lessons for those who would hide from a difficult past instead of confronting and healing generational trauma.
Supernatural mystery meets generational drama with hopeful endings for all. (Supernatural. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-313481-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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