A breezy adventure that lives in the moment; tremendous fun.
In this middle-grade sequel, a young French spy goes undercover at an elite English boarding school.
Twelve-year-old Simone LaFray is a junior operative for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Having helped to apprehend “The Whisper”—an international conflict broker and son of the renowned criminal hacker “The Maestro”—Simone is ready for her next case. This takes her to London, where junior agent Claire Pilfrey has been kidnapped from a wealthy boarding school. Claire’s last report suggests that she’d obtained the OmniKey—an invention of The Maestro’s that allows access to any computer network—and hidden it “somewhere safe” on campus. Simone embarks on an undercover mission at the school, taking her best friend, The V, with her. But solving the case won’t be easy. Simone, who prefers to go unnoticed and keep her own company, will have to mingle with Claire’s classmates (“Who were Claire’s friends? Who were her enemies?”). Furthermore, London has fallen prey to a gang of vigilante art protesters, and Simone discovers that “La Volpe Rossa” (The Red Fox), the villain from her first adventure, was, until recently, the school’s art teacher. Can Simone untangle the entwined threads of mystery, find the OmniKey, and rescue Claire? O’Farrell writes in the first person, past tense, affording insight into the intellectual maturity and self-aware social unease that underlie Simone’s preternatural competence. The London setting is a bit tourist generic and not as evocative as the Paris of Simone’s first case. Nonetheless, the prose skips along nicely and the story surges forward. The author has an ear for dialogue and a knack for dropping clues—some that lead readers toward possible solutions, others that deepen the intrigue. Simone is a likable viewpoint character. Her observational and analytical skills are impressive yet she refreshingly reflects her age and can be knocked off-kilter by everyday issues. Unfortunately, the book is far from self-contained. O’Farrell drops in returning characters (Madame Fontaine, The V) without introduction and only late in the story confirms such basic information as Simone’s age and that a girl named Mia is her sister. The ending is also more a teaser for the next installment than a denouement in its own right. Regardless, fans of the first volume are sure to approve.
A breezy adventure that lives in the moment; tremendous fun.Pub Date: April 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-953021-35-9
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Brandylane Publishers, Inc.
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts.
In this latest slice in the Food Group series, Humble Pie learns to stand up to a busy friend who’s taking advantage of his pal’s hard work on the sidelines.
Jake the Cake and Humble Pie are good friends. Where Pie is content to toil in the background, Jake happily shines in the spotlight. Alert readers will notice that Pie’s always right there, too, getting A-pluses and skiing expertly just behind—while also doing the support work that keeps every school and social project humming. “Fact: Nobody notices pie when there’s cake nearby!” When the two friends pair up for a science project, things begin well. But when the overcommitted Jake makes excuse after excuse, showing up late or not at all, a panicked Pie realizes that they won’t finish in time. When Jake finally shows up on the night before the project’s due, Pie courageously confronts him. “And for once, I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it.” The friends talk it out and collaborate through the night for the project’s successful presentation in class the next day. John and Oswald’s winning recipe—plentiful puns and delightful visual jokes—has yielded another treat here. The narration does skew didactic as it wraps up: “There’s nothing wrong with having a tough conversation, asking for help, or making sure you’re being treated fairly.” But it’s all good fun, in service of some gentle lessons about social-emotional development.
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780063469730
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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